


Alternate Past: Uncertain Future MKII

by Follower38



Category: Halo, Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 13:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 66,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1471039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Follower38/pseuds/Follower38
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Change one facet of history, And you can change everything. Change more, the future is no longer certain. The San'Shyum were long extinct before the Covenant encountered humanity. The Krogan realized their hubris and became a galactic power by their own strength. With now three galactic powerhouses in play, will an encounter mean a new Golden Age, or an unprecedented Era of War?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Contact: Fire for Effect: Editted

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mark II

A/N: Alright everyone before we kick this story off. Let me say thanks again to Real Teagy SOT for letting me adopt his story. Though now by this point I will admit I have changed a lot of the details. Now this is an alternate universe story. Before reading I strongly suggest reading the companion piece/timeline for this story. It's listed with my other stories. That said, I have edited this chapter yet again. And made major changes to those who have already read it. Please review and tell me what you think of the changes.

Relay 314 System – Turian/Krogan Patrol Fleet

General Desolas Arterius had dedicated a great portion of his life to the Turian Military. He has fought against slavers and a few small wars and rebellions. He knows how things work in Council space and how and when to act. Despite his loyalty to the Council, it was well known his own people took precedent.

With such a long standing era of peace, he had been assigned to patrolling the borders of Council Space, abroad his Dreadnought, The Obelisk of Turipa, named after a prominent general in ancient Turian history.

Alongside his vessel, was the Krogan built Dreadnought, The Son of Kalros, commanded by his Krogan Counterpart: Admiral Torsk, one of perhaps, at most, a dozen Krogan since they joined the Council to attain the lofty rank. Torsk possessed a fearsome reputation as a cunning and brutal tactician, having learned from his experience over his 900 year life. Brilliant in planning both planet based and exo-atmospheric operations but his preferred tactic is a head on charge. However, somehow possessing a great deal of tactical thinking that his strategies are largely successful. But unlike his Turian counterpart his brutality knows no bounds, in combat; he often used tactics that were seen as barbaric and unnecessary, ranging from scorched-earth tactics to en masse charges. Along with the rumors of what he allows those under his command to do with prisoners of any sort. Even among his own species, his brutality was outmatched by only a few.

The pair had been working together since Desolas had become a Colonel, often acting as liason with the Krogan Admiral. Over the years the two came to complement each other perfectly. One was precise, disciplined and loyal. The other was blunt, brutal and fanatic. Where one of them would flank, the other would charge head on, catching their enemy in a pincer movement. This combination of polar opposite strategies meshed, against belief, into a near perfect form. And it is one that has yet to be replicated by another pair. And over the years, they had become among the best commanders, but were not the most recognized.

Torsk's own reputation was his undoing. Despite his success, he was a scarcely known figure in Citadel space. As the Krogan do their best to hide his existence in order to dispel rumors of Krogan bloodlust. Having almost single handily destroyed the Krogan People's reputation as not only powerful but productive members of society. As for the Turian General, his reason for being out in the edges of Citadel space was simple: greed. His time with the Torsk essentially forced him to learn to be more harsh and clinical, the very reason for his success. And the same reason for his, relatively hidden, wealth. Each successive raid he committed against larger and larger pirate bands increased his own personal wealth, far beyond what the Turian Hierarchy paid its commanders. His hope was to find a hereto undiscovered alien species, conquer it, and then introduce it to the Citadel Council as a new Client race of the Turians like the Volus. One obscure fact about the Volus becoming a client race was that the Turian commander who led the initial, and later successful, campaign against the Volus, became among the richest of Turians, retiring to a life of luxury soon after his service. Even now his descendants still enjoyed their forefather's success.

There had been rumours of pirates or slavers bands operating in the System and had been directed to investigate. The fleet consisted of 2 Dreadnoughts, 8 Cruisers and 16 Frigates. With a mix of Turian and Krogan ground forces. Excessive yes but both had called in favors and pulled a few strings to get their fleet, as the Admiral was also in on Desolas's plan. Despite the lack of new species, their own coffers still expanded from the raids of pirate bases. So far all examinations and scans had turned up empty. It was a relatively unexplored system yet; oddly it possessed two Primary Mass Relays, only one of which was active and a single garden world. It was the last Relay to be activated prior to the end of the Rachini war. However colonization had not occurred as it was the rim of the Council territory and the fact the garden world had a native species. One thing to note was the fact that the space around said planet was littered with floating wrecks and husks of ships. All of them sharing an overall design, that is to say heavy armor and ridiculous amounts of weaponry but with slightly different aesthetic groups, but none of them used Eezo. And the fact that, based on their analysis of some of the husks, there was a considerable difference in age; averaging around several hundred years or so between different aesthetic groups. The native species on the planet were a war-faring species and the Council kept a close on them should they ever become a true space faring species. A fear unwarranted as it were as the various parties on the planet had just blasted themselves without nuclear weapons back into a pre-industrial revolution society. For the 15 time since the Council found them. This time they had not even managed to leave their planet's atmosphere beforehand.

General Arterius entered the Combat Information Centre or CIC on his ship, where he would command the Fleet he is in charge of. He walked up to the galaxy map and hit a few buttons. The Map changed from a view of the Galaxy to just one of the system in detail. It showed the star and its surrounding planets. The planets consisted of 2 planets in the habitable zone however both were desolate. There were also 2 large gas giants that were on the outer edge of the system. The other Primary mass relay was at the edge of the system, but it was dormant. The law stated that any trying to activate a dormant relay is to be executed immediately in order to prevent another Rachini war.

"What are the reports?" asked Desolas

One of the operators turned to Desolas.

"Sir, our scans show that whoever was in the system had left roughly a few days ago. The abandoned outposts still have signs of recent use." replied the Turian Operator

"Very well, keep up the standard procedure, get me Admiral Torsk on the line" ordered Desolas

The comms flared to life and a voice came over the speakers.

"General, what can I do for you?" asked a deep Krogan voice, clearly Admiral Torsk.

"Torsk, we will be sending men down to the planet. We shall both be searching the bases for any evidence of slavers or pirates. Understood?" informed Desolas

"Yes Desolas. My men are eager to fight. Send us the location and we shall be underway. Maybe you Turians might learn a thing or two about warfare from us" quipped Torsk.

"Well, if my men want to lose some brains cells to excessive head-butting I will point them in your direction." replied Desolas with laughter in his voice.

"Sir, we have a contact, unknown make and classification! Profiles do not, I repeat DO NOT, match any other known profiles! They are taking position next to the Relay!" shouted the Turian Operator.

"What!? I'm on way to the bridge! All ships, move to combat-ready status!" Desolas had already bolted for the bridge. The moment he arrived on the bridge, a video feed of said relay and over two dozen of the unknown vessels appeared on one of the screens. Ranging from freighter-tonnage vessels to what had to frigate-tonnage. Most had a smooth slimmed profile, curved and sleek, with a litany of colors. One looked eerily similar to a hanar without tentacles. A few others were blocky, rough designs; a more utilitarian design. But one ship stood out among the rest. It was the size of a Council Dreadnought. The ship seemed bulky, as if function was meant to be its design and not form. And unlike the others, was painted jet-black. The ship, nor any of the others, were giving off any element zero readings but was having large energy spikes from their Reactors. "What are they doing?"

"Energy reading and Eezo levels spiking!" The Lieutenant manning the scanner station gasped. "They're activating the Relay sir! Its coming online now!" On screen everyone watched as the core of the Mass Relay began to glow a bright blue, the concentric rings beginning to come apart and rotate of their own accord.

"Not on my watch. Link communications with the rest of the fleet!" He keyed the line to counterpart's, "Torsk coordinate with my ships and help me deal with these newcomers. We cannot afford another Rachni war" ordered Desolas. If these newcomers came through en masse into Council space, they had no idea how they would react.

Torsk's guttural laughter came over the comm. loud and proud, his excitement obvious. "You always get me into some good fights don't you Desolas? Very well, let's show them the might of the Council. The usual plan then." replied Torsk as he disengaged comms with Desolas. On the tactical display, the Son of Kalros and several frigates began to head on toward the alien vessels.

The biggest ship in the group, the dreadnought, turned away from the fleet, shielding the smaller vessels.

The screen blared red as it detected a magnetic energy spike from the dreadnought and several of the smaller vessels, who were also turning to face the Son of Kalros "Sir, they're readying weapons systems!" barked an Operator.

"Order all ships to target their Dreadnought. That Relay must not be opened!" Desolas barked. They still had a chance, until the Relay had been given a complete initial charge, any interruption would shut it down and the Relay would return to a dormant state, after that however, they would be permanently activated.

On the tactical display, his fleet had moved to strike the enemy vessels from 'above', while Korsk's group was charging in. The alien vessels had moved into a wedge formation, the same as his fleet. However, unlike his, where they were attempting to stay clear out of another's line of fire, the aliens seemed to be almost shielding the smaller and the more colorful vessels. The smaller ships were headed towards the Relay as it began to glow a brighter blue as it came online.

On the Weapon's Officers terminal, a light blipped green, letting him known they were in weapons range, "Open fire!" barked Desolas.

Within seconds, dozens of rounds had left each ships' cannon in his fleet, along with dozens of Disruptor missiles. All aimed at the Alien Dreadnought. Bright red and orange streaks shot out from the alien vessel as its turret emplacements tried to shoot down the incoming ordinance. Some were intercepted but most found their way through to the alien ship. Everyone was shocked when the rounds and missiles impacted the hull but rather than gutting the ship as was expected, holes were punctured and small rifts opened in the plating but otherwise it was still largely intact. "Spirit's, how?" Everyone was shocked, by all rights they should have been destroyed by the sheer amount of ordinance but instead it was still intact! Still, it did nothing to deter the aliens apparently. The alien dreadnought began to turn, its bow now aiming towards a group of cruisers. Within moments, from the single dreadnought, hundreds of missiles flew from the vessels. A moment later, the broadside of the dreadnought started to flare orange as its massive turrets began to fire on the fleet.

"Activate GARDIAN Defense Grid!" Every single ship activated their GARDIAN laser batterys to take out the missiles, but the sheer number and their velocity was more than enough to ensure more than half their number made it through. The missiles impacted the cruisers and the two dreadnoughts. Hulls shook and kinetic barriers shattered from the impact. But the worst damage was a slight charring of the plating from the explosions. Around him, bridge crew began yelling out status reports from other ships in the fleet.

"Frigate squad: Hexlion reports kinetic barriers dropping to 50%! That damn thing is firing slugs at them!"

"The Gordam Cruiser is displacing towards the rear of the fleet! Kinetic barriers are down and those damn cannons are tearing into the hull!"

"Ferergal and Terul are reporting the same! Hull breeches in all lower decks!"

"Frigate Derom is dead in water! I repeat dead in the water!"

"All craft, triad formation! I want-" Before the Turian Fleet commander could finish his order, the bow of the alien dreadnought flashed a bright orange.

Before anyone knew what was happening, one of the officers manning the Tactical screamed cried out as two dots simply blipped out of existence, "Sir, the Orphus and Faeter are down! Their barriers couldn't hold against that vessels main gun!"

Desolas was shocked, almost too shocked for words. Yes a few of cruisers had lost their barriers but that pair had been towards the center of the fleet and had full charged kinetic barriers. He would have stood there, jaw open but Torsk's voice brought him out of his stupor. "It cleaved down 2 ships in one shot!?" The rage in his voice apparent. "Bring it down now! Get that nuke in the tube!" Despite how nuclear weapons were banned by the Council, Torsk had always been more of an independent mercenary than an actual general. He had enough illegal arms to start a planetary war.

The Mass Relay shined brightly as it came online right after the order, and the alien dreadnought turned and began heading for it. The other ships began moving also, but still continued to be shielded to the dreadnought.

"Don't let it escape!" shouted Desolas, if they got away, who knows what kind of retaliatory force could come through?

All of the ships under his command were firing as fast as they could, attempting to down the ship before it could leave. Rounds were hitting it but to no avail. Right after the last of the other ships made it through; the dreadnought itself approached the relay and in a flash of light and eezo, departed.

"Dammit!" Desolas slammed a fist into a wall. "Make a sweep for survivors and regroup by the Relay. We have to stop that vessel before it can warn its people. We have 5 minutes then we are heading through!" ordered Desolas. Activating his private communications, he asked. "Torsk, we're going to need more ships. Think it's time call in a few favors?"

You could practically feel the feral grin coming from the Krogan. "Desolas, seems that these newcomers have some powerful weaponry. Weaponry that the Krogan Empire is interested in." Torsk stated. "Hell yeah we got pull in some favors!"

"Yes, I saw. But they lack a basic shield system. I think it's best if we destroy the vessel and learn what we can. Before they call reinforcements and another Rachni war begins." stated Desolas

"Very well, when you're ready, we'll head out." stated Torsk. "Just don't take too long my friend. It has been a long time since we Krogan have met such an enemy, and my trigger finger is itchy."

"We have a few minutes before we pursue, at which point, we will find their home planet, subjugate their species and make them into a client-species in the name of both the Krogan and Turians." stated Desolas. "Just be sure to send out the coordinates to our 'mutual friends'. I'd rather get this done quick and over with."

Torsk began laughing "I like the way you think Desolas," The sound of fists slamming together could be heard over the comm. "Let's get to it"

A/N: Let me know what you think of this rewrite so far. I have a habit of over-complicating things so let me know if I did do that here, if it's lacking something, over did something or an alright job. I want to do my friend's work justice, and put my own spin on things. So let me know! :D

Also, expect a codex entry later for the Mass Relays. And without further ado, let's begin.

Also, for those of you who think there are some facts I need to keep in mind, please send it to me in a PM. Easier to keep track of. And also, will be doing more Codex entries as story progresses. So stuff like Sangheli(Elites) Ships and Corvettes Codex entries will come in later.


	2. First Contact: Hold the Line: Editted

A/N: Hey guys, sorry the first real chapter rewrite was so short. It was a pilot chapter to see what you guys think of my writing style and give an opportunity for anyone to give suggestions and anything I should keep in mind to avoid backing myself into a corner. Oh, on that note, this story WILL be taking a different approach to peace between the Alliance and the Council. War is brutal, and make no mistake, I will show that here.

Also, I will make mistakes, please let me know if I have so I may correct them. :D No beta-reader so yeah. Also, for the Covenant, I will using the actual names for the species rather then Human designations. Will post the relations at top of every page when one of them appears.

Sanghelli: The Elites.

Shanxi Colony System: CDF(Colonial Defense Force) Marathon-Class Cruiser: Right of Way

On the far edge of the newly titled Shanxi system, named after the sole Human-Majority Colony in the system, a massive technological relic had been discovered. As per standard protocol, any investigations of the relic were treated with the utmost care. Despite having similar aesthetics to Forerunner designs, it was most definitely not Forerunner. It had no reaction whatsoever to those confirmed of Reclaimer status. After a long period, there had been an effort to send power the relic. Now the core of the object, a spinning gyroscope with a glowing blue core sat at the edge of the system.

Recently, the UNSC/UEG(United Earth Government) had declared for closer inspections of the relic to be carried out. An 'On-Hands' approach had been fully authorized. The CDF had sent the Right of Way to escort the civilian ships and science teams who would be examining the relic.

In the command chair of the Marathon-Class Cruiser sat Captain Tekau Zarais. A relatively new officer, one of the first to come out of the Officer Candiancy Schools on Luna after the Human-Covenant War, The Heretic War and the Second Insurrection. "Kalia, watch our approach. Any news from the science teams?"

Next to the arm rest/command pillion, the image of a young woman: wearing the highest fashion from 1990s New York that would, and did make heads turn, appeared. "Oh nothing much. Seems there's quite a large energy field emanating from the device. The boys are asking if they can a peek up her skirt." Kalia answered. One of the latest in the generation of Smart-AIs, which were becoming more and more common place thanks to the method pioneered by the Doctors Halsey and Denton: of creating AIs by the cloning of Human brains and flash coping of memories. "So what should I tell them?"

"Let them go, but bring us in closer with them. First sign of trouble we're pulling the eggheads back and firing at couple MAC shots at the thing." He answered. Looking at the floating relic projected on the screens in front of him, he repressed a shudder. This, 'thing' had an aura around it. Being around it just felt wrong. "Just tell them to be quick about it. CDF is only giving them a few hours today before we head back. Tell them if they complain, they can just come back again later."

"Message sent and delivered. And not even a peep of protest." Winking at the Captain she added, "I think they like me."

Zarais snorted. "More like they got a nosebleed from the innuendos you probably put in the message. Despite me telling you to stop that." With later generations of Smart-AIs, some of them developed; eccentrities. Nothing dangerous that could lead to early rampancy, but little things. Some were actually religious, others more cynical, some optimistic while a few like Kalia developed, a more perverted personality.

"Yes well, you can't deny-" She stopped, her avatar turning her 'head' to look towards the artifact, "What in the world?"

"Kalia, what's going on?"

"The energy from the relic, its reaching out, towards…the ships! Towards us!" She yelled. "The civilian craft are reporting energy surges! Something's going on with their navigational drives! Slipspace drives are being suffering some sort of fluctuations! The energy is arcing towards us!"

Cursing under his breath, the Captain began barking out orders. "Tell the civvies to pull back! Get away from the relic as fast as possible! Have those small enough to enter our hangars! Helmsman! Full reverse now! I want a fucking planet between us and that relic yesterday!"

The helmsman replied, "Yes sir! Full reverse no-Sir! I've lost control of the engines! Slipspace drive is nonresponsive!"

"I'm getting coordinate data! The system is accepting the feed! I can't read it!" This time it came from navigation.

Kalia spoke, "I'm getting a data burst from the relic. Opening now." A millisecond passed as she opened the compressed data and read its contents. The eyes on her avatar widened as she broadcasted to all ships near the relay, "ALL HANDS! BRACE FOR SUDDEN ACCELERATION!" Not a moment after she spoke those words did all the vessels around the Relic were suddenly catapulted into the unknown.

In a different system, within relatively close distance to an exact copy of the Relic in the Shanxi system, the civilian craft and the Right of Way decelerated back to normal space.

On the bridge of the Cruiser, the crew were thrown forward though all of them managed to remain at their stations. "Report!"

"Slipspace drive in unresponsive! It's…it's shutdown…" The helmsman answered. A quiet murmur rounded throughout the bridge crew. As far as anyone knew, slipspace drive engines, once activated were never meant to be taken apart, and the only way to shut one down was to shut off a ships reactor, and even then the things possessed an internal power source. The things were notoriously difficult to do any sort of work with.

"Navigation is still online, showing a surge in coordinate data. Shunting data to empty server and isolating."

"The civilians?'

"Panicked, worried. Wondering what the hell just happened but otherwise fine captain."

"Send out some of our Longswords and Claymores, get them flying closer to the civilian ships. Try to reassure them everything's alright. Now can someone tell me what the hell just happened?"

"That 'relic' is apparently some sort of relay device." Kalia answered. "Just before we launched I got a data packet from the device. Apparently it's called a Mass Relay. The information wasn't even in an alien language but it was in a form of binary. Took me less than a nanosecond to translate like someone made it that way. I got information on how to activate this one and properly use it."

"Alright. Send whatever you need to send to the civvies. Get that 'relay' powered up. I don't want to stay here any longer then we have too."

"Understood sir." With that Kalia's avatar went away. A short while passed as fighters passed over the civilian ships. Getting ready to travel back through this relay device. 'Least it's all quiet here.' The captain thought to himself.

Least, for the moment. "Contact! Twenty-six ships! Unknown classification! Two are Cruiser tonnage, another eight as frigates and the rest read as corvette-tonnage!"

"Shit! You know protocol people! First Contact: Assume Hostilities! Ready Archer Pods, get the AAA Helix Grid up, prep the MACs!" Around him those in charge of the weapons stations, both the primary, secondary and tertiary weapons, their hands were a blur as they passed over their consoles. "Someone tell the civilians to get behind the Way. Our priority are the civilians and getting out of people don't forget that." Since the Human-Covenant War, the primary task of any military commander, when in the presence of civilians was said civilians and their evacuation. "Kalia, have they tried contacting us at all?"

"Negative sir, they're ignoring all hails I-Energy spikes detected! Focus on their bows and 'wings'! They're firing!" On the screen they could see the streaks of light as missiles and projectiles flashed across space towards the Way.

"All hands brace for impact!" The deck shook from the alien ordinace as it shook the hull. Alarms started blaring on the bridge. "Report! Starboard side is reporting multiple hull breaches! Decompressions in sections on decks: 5, 7, 8, and 10! We've lost one Autocannon emplacement. Several casualties!"

"Some get me a firing solution on those bastards! Archer pods A1 through F3, I want a wide swath across that entire damn battle group! Fire the moment you have the solutions set! All starboard cannons: fire!"

Across the starboard broadside of the refit Marathon-Class cruiser, the covers of the oversized half of the cruiser's Archer Missile Pods, each carrying 60 M58 Archer Missiles each, were explosively released from their hold. Not a moment later, every single missile along within the designated pods roared out of the pods. Flying across the void to their targets, some were struck down but a great number still went through, impact the shields of the alien ships. Even as the missiles were leaving their pods, the half dozen, newly added 105mm Autocannon emplacements opened fire. At over a 1000 rounds a minute, metallic death soon began pounding on the alien warships.

"Some give me a status on the relic. And did our weapons do anything?"

"Sir, enemy ships possess shielding technology! But very weak! Detecting multiple hull breaches from several enemy ships!"

"Sir, both MACs are fully charged! Targeting solutions set for their frigates!"

"Reorient us to target their ships! Keep the civvies covered." The Right of Way began to turn, presenting its bow to the alien ships, the civilian vessels hiding behind or next to it. Keep themselves out of the line of fire. The moment the alien ships were directly 'in front' of his ships, he yelled: "Open fire!" On his command, the deck shuddered as the two six hundred ton ferric Tungsten round streaked forth from the muzzle of the MACs. Their targets: for one MAC, two unlucky frigates to have been chosen by the gunnery station officer. As they struck their target, the vessels ceased to exists. The kinetic energy behind the round shattered the frigate-tonnage vessels, the superstructure just crumpled under the pressure. The first ship shattered into thousands of pieces as the ferric tungsten round traveled straight through it. The other frigate-tonnage ships behind it, was cleaved in two as it traveled through and through and into the void. The other MAC round narrowly missed its target, one of the cruisers as it turned ever so slightly, avoiding death by a hair's breadth.

Still the captain smiled. If this was the worst these new aliens could through at them, then the UNSC, hell the CDF was more than well prepared.

"Sir the relay is online! Navigational data sent!"

"Send the civilians through now! Present our unmarred broadside to the contacts! The moment the last one gets through, we follow!"

"Sir they're firing again!"

"I don't care! The civilians are our priority! Don't reorient us towards them!"

"Reporting hull breaches on all decks! Lost one, now three gun emplacements! Captain-"

"You heard my orders!"

"I was going to say the last one's through! All hands brace for acceleration!"

Again the crew were thrown forward but this time had better braced themselves for it. By the time they had returned to Shanxi space, the civilian craft were already making way towards the planet.

"Comms! Get me a line to Second Line! I need General Williams on the line."

"Sir, he's hailing us!"

On the holoemitter the image of an aged man, his hair gray with age but still displaying a proud aura of power appeared, "Right of Way, Right of Way. What the hell is going on out there? I've got civilian ships panicking about a 'New Covenant' and 'invading armies'. Just what the hell did you people find?"

"Sir, I can't tell you how relived I am to hear your voice. We have encountered a new hostile alien race, I repeat they are hostile. Their guns don't got much punch but they got the numbers sir. I'm leaking atmosphere, got multiple hull breeches and damn sure these guys are not far behind."

The General's face didn't pale, nor show any sign of fear. If anything he took on a hardened look. The look of a veteran who had seen too many wars and was ready to jump back in the saddle. General Bertoldo Williams was an old man, old enough to have participated in the later years of the Human-Covenant War. He had his first taste of combat as a Second Lieutenant during the Battle of Reach. And later, made his name during the Battle of Earth. He had the reputation of being able to pull through almost any battle. If not win, at the very least survive. It was still a mystery why a man with his reputation had taken over the local system's primary CDF garrison base. He turned, barking out orders the Captain couldn't hear then the General turned back to the screen.

"Get your ass within the grid Captain. We'll give these bastards a 'Welcome To Shanxi' Gift basket." Williams's had a near feral grin. "I'm ordering the civilians into the bunkers. We're sending a message to HighCom on Earth but don't expect anything for a while. Mind dropping whatever you extra ordinace you got on that boat of yours my way? I think we're going to need it."

Both the Captain and the General could read the message hidden between the lines. If the worst came to pass, than Shanxi would need every advantage, every defender and every bullet it could get its hands on. "Understood sir." Off screen he made a gesture, signaling others to begin ground drop operations. With that the general's image went away. In the Hangar bay, D79H-TC Pelican were being loaded up with munitions, troopers and a myriad of other supplies. M12 FAV "Warthogs" in multiple variants were being loaded up and prepped for an orbit to atmosphere transfer. M809B Scorpion Main Battle Tanks were being secured , others had weapons pods secured to the underside. Others were being outfitted for gunship roles. The moment they were ready, the dropships took off and began heading towards the planet. Longswords, Broadswords and Claymores were taking off from inside the ship and heading towards the planet.

In geosynchronous orbit above the planet were three Mark III Orbital Defense Platforms: Base Variants. Each carrying the single most powerful projectile weapon known to Human Kind: the Mark V 'Super' MAC, or "The Big Stick". It was capable of sending a three thousand tungsten/depleted Uranium round at almost a fraction of the speed of light. As the alien ships began to come out of FTL and return to normal space, the three platforms began to turn, the muzzles of their cannons aimed toward the unknowns. Their barrels flared in silence as they fired their shots. This though, the aliens were preparmed. All but one of the three shots were kill shots, but this time each round only claimed one vessel, a frigate-tonnage, removing the vessel from this plain of existence before continuing into the void. The third target, one of the cruisers, was saved as it was still moving and avoided the MAC shot. A feat attributed more to luck than skill. And that particular cruiser had it spades. But luck or skill, it wouldn't matter. The platforms would strike them all down before they even got close.

Then, it all went wrong. One by one the alien ships were wrapped in a blue aura, not like that of the event horizon of a slipspace portal. Suddenly, they jumped forward. One moment they were by the relic, the next they were directly next to the stations. They were out of the minimum cone of fire for the platforms' main cannon. The point defense autocannons opened fire on the alien warships, but too little too late. The alien guns began to pepper the stations. For all their firepower, for all their armor, the stations were not designed to handle such a barrage as that close range. One by one the stations began to fracture. The once massive monuments to Human ingenuity and firepower turned into so much scrap. Hundreds on the stations died and those who made it to ships and escape pods were soon shot down by the alien ships.

Back on the Way, the Captain had a white knuckle grip on his command chair. "Kalia, engage Cole Protocol. Begin mass evacuation of the ship. All personal are to report to escape pods and any remaining space worthy vessels and head planetside." Looking towards the AI he added, "That includes you too love." Zarais and Kalia had been a long time working pair: almost 10 years. Despite the captain's young age, he had been working with Kalia since her initial start-up. They had a closeness that bordered romantic, but both knew it could never go beyond close friends. The bridge had already started moving the moment he gave his orders. They knew if they disobeyed, he would just knock them out and dump them in a pod.

After the crew had cleared out, her avatar appeared yet again, this time though, she was dressed more casual. A favor to the captain who enjoyed that over her usually fancy styles. Smiling, she 'looked' towards Zarais. "Together to the end Te." She knew what he was planning, they both did. They couldn't run. The slipspace drive was inoperable. Meaning they couldn't jump to slipspace and retreat. Nor would they have ever considered it. There was no point trying to contact for help. Shanxi already sent out the call, and their long range communications were rendered moot. That left one choice: to go down fighting and by those planetside as much time as they could. "The last of the pods and dropships are away. We're alone."

"Good. Charge up the MACs. Arm whatever Archer Pods we got left. Ready the autocannons."

"MACs are no go. Whatever happened when we made that second trip, the magnetic coils aren't working for some reason."

"Guess that leaves one option then. Ready self-destruct."

There weren't anymore words to say. The bridge stayed silent as the thousand meter vessel charged forward into the heart of the enemy fleet. Archer missiles flared their engines as they left their pods and began impacting the remaining the ships. As the Way came closer, the cruisers began to distance themselves. The Right of Way's autocannons opened fire with a fury unexpected. The guns burning through their ammunition stores until their barrels glowed red hot and still they fired. When the last Archer pod was expended, the last gun turret destroyed. The alien warships had lost five of their corvettes. Their other ships were dead in the water or suffered slight damage but most were still operational. Their helmsman and gunnery crews having successfully dodged and avoided the worst of the damage. The Way was a shadow of its former self. The hull was pocket marketed with so many holes, the plating starting to peel off from the force. Atmosphere was visibly leaking from the ship. Two of the corvettes-tonnage vessels closed in. Intent on claim their prize.

On the bridge, Human and AI shared one last look. And then, for a moment, the Right of Way shined bright as star. The two corvettes that had closed in were vaporized along with the cruiser. The battle above Shanxi was over. The aliens had won this round.

Now it was time for the ground war. And blood will be spilled.

Teaser Ad. for a friend. :D

Excerpt from Mass Effect: Salvation by EspionageDB7 on Deviantart.

Gordon turned to face the Commander, locking eyes with his. "Commander." He began, with a look of resolve on his face. "It would be my honor, to serve under you." Gordon affirmed, as he extended his hand.

A grin overtook Shepard's expression, as he shook his head. "No, Doctor Freeman." He replied, extending his own hand to shake Gordon's. "It would be MY honor, to serve beside you."

In the blackness of space, and the void of the abyss, two men aboard the SR-2 Normandy, stood face to face, making a pact. Heroes may be but ordinary men, who do extraordinary things, at extraordinary times. But there are heroes, and then there are legends...

What happens when history's greatest hero joins forces with the future's greatest champion?

After Gordon Freeman is allegedly killed by the ruthless Combine Regime, Earth enters into a

new golden age of technological advancement. Until 179 years later, when galactic civilation is

threatened once more. After nearly two centuries, Dr. Gordon Freeman finds himself in the midst

of a strange, new reality. With a past in ruins, and a future in jeopardy, he must join forces

with the inexorable Commander John Shepard, and the entire crew of the SR-2 Normandy,

in order to try and stop the most relentless enemy the galaxy has ever known. An enemy bent on

bringing about the annihilation of life itself...


	3. Shanxi: Arrival of the Fleet: Editted

Alternate Past, Uncertain Future MKII CH 3: Edited

A/N: Yeah, despite my best attempts, this edit is, to me, better than the previous version but is poor quality to me. Either way, review and tell me what you think. Good, bad, whatever. Just please, don't flame me. And any improvements you can suggest.

Unggoy: Grunts

Sangheili: Elites

Kig-Yar: Jackals

"Vis Vas Pacem, Para Bellum."

"If You Desire Peace, Prepare for War."

Shanxi: Arrival of the Fleet

In various points above the surface of the now besieged colony planet of Shanxi, the invaders' numbers had been since bolstered by the arrival of several reinforcements. Vessels whose size ranged from Corvettes, to destroyers to even several more of the alien cruisers had since entered the system. Forming squadrons taking positions at multiple points across the planet, the vast majority on the dayside of the planet. Several corvette-size vessels had taken position near the shattered remains of the orbital defense platforms.

Then, in the void of space, a disk of energy boomed silently into existence. Its core blue as the deepest sea, the color fading to white as it came close to the event horizon. Then another disk boomed into existence close by. And another, then another. Within seconds, dozens of the disks have flashed into existence. And not moments after they had appeared, something began to come through them. A metal rod, attached to a great hulking mass of metal: ships. An entire battle group of ships began to come through the portals. Each one closing behind the ship after it had passed through. The majority of the alien warships, upon noticing the new arrivals, began to reorient themselves and accelerate towards them.

The Shanxi Liberation Fleet had arrived.

On the bridge of the System's Alliance: UNSC Infinity-Class Dreadnought, at its head stood Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Jesse De-La Rosa. A man often heralded as one of the best that Humanity had to offer. Called the "Paragon of Humanity".

His fleet consisted of: fifteen frigate; a mix of the Montreal-Class Heavy Frigates and Rider-Class Light-Frigates, ten Midway-Class Destroyers, and three Vadrigos-Class Carriers, including his own Infinity –Class Dreadnought. The Infinity, the first in her class that had been commissioned as a last haven for Humanity should the worst had come to pass during the Human-Covenant War. Though technically labeled as a Heavy-Assault Battle Group, he called it "a gross misallocation of valuable military resources"; he knew why he was granted this. It was for one reason and one reason alone: to show Humanity's Strength. This was Humanity's second First Contact since the Covenant, and these aliens needed to learn; Humanity is not to be trifled with.

The Admiral started to think back to when he had been informed about these new aliens and his new mission back on Reach a few days ago.

Reach: System's Alliance: UNSC/New Covenant HighCom: The Nest

The hydraulic doors leading to the most secure room on Reach known the military hissed open and Fleet Admiral stepped through, the same doors closing behind him right after.

He snapped off sharp salute. In front of him sat some of, if not the, most powerful people in the Alliance Military. "Sirs! Reporting as ordered sir."

Fleet Admiral Terrence "Lord" Hood. Admiral Hieronymus Michael Stanforth. Vice Admirals Ysionris Jeromi, Margaret Orlenda Parangosky and Danforth Whitcomb. Captain Serin Osman widely regarded as the Second most dangerous woman in the UNSC after her mentor, Parangosky. General Howard Graves. Army Colonel James Ackerson. Arbiter of the People of Sanghelios: Thel'Vadam. Special Operations Commander of the New Covenant Rtas'Vadum. And of course, Supreme Commander Sesa 'Refumee. The latter had been given his rank as a reward for his actions that led, to what would become the New Covenant, to Humanity's aid during the Battle for Earth.

A meeting like this was unprecedented. Never before had this much top brass been in the one room at the same time. The last time half of these people had been the same room, marked the first time a NOVA-Class Planet Cracker weapon had been authorized for use. 'This does not bode well.' De La Rosa thought.

Lord Hood raised his hand. "At ease." With that, the Rear Admiral relaxed his stance ever so partially but was still ramrod straight. "Have a seat." He complied at took the chair. Soon the room was plunged into darkness and from the center of the table a holoprojector activated. Displaying the Shanxi System. "Twenty Hours ago we attained a direct beam transmission from the colony of Shanxi. Some time ago, a relic of unknown nature was discovered on the far rim of the system." The holo changed to show a massive object shaped like a tuning fork with antennas. "Only recently have science teams been granted to approach the object, escorted by CDF Marathon-Class Cruiser Right of Way. Upon reaching the object, it propelled them forward at incredible speeds to another, identical relic. Moments after having arrived, they made First Contact." The hologram changed to show several ships positioned near the relic and red triangles to represent the unknowns. The Rear Admiral's eyes widened.

"First Contact sir?"

"That's right." Whitcomb answered. "First Contact. And apparently from what we've got, they didn't even bother answering hails. Sons of bitches just opened fire."

"Sir, any reports of casualties?"

The holo of the planet reappeared and holographic representations of three orbital defense platforms appeared. Soon after the red triangles reappeared and started firing on the platforms until they came apart. "All three Orbital Defense Platforms were lost, assume all hands. The Right of Way was taken down soon after." Stanforth said. "As of last transmission, the enemy has made planetfall and has taken positions near major settlements. Local militia and Colonial Defense Garrison were gearing up for a fight. They received plenty of reinforcements and munitions from the Way before it fell." Stanforth looked towards both Parangosky and Ackerson before nodding.

Ackerson stood up, and took over. "From the data they sent before transmissions were cut off, we've managed to gleam some of their capabilities." Clicking the remote in his hand, the image of the planet was replaced by two unknown ship designs. One was angular in design and flat, not unlike an elongated Longsword fighter, the other, was not unlike a flying box. "There are two categories of ships; we've designated the first, those that are streamlined, Type-1s, and the other as Type-2s." The holographic ships reflected their new designations. "We've, determined they possess spinal mounted mass accelerator cannon, however, unlike our MACs, these are designed differently from ours. Firing at a rate more than three times our fastest cannons, and their rounds are, for lack of a better word, altered. Traveling far faster than something of their size should, and impacting with kinetic energy beyond what they should. Their cannons possess almost the firepower of an Onager mass driver cannon and fire at five times the rate. They can penetrate our ship armor, but it will take them time. They possess some level of shielding technology but from the reports the Way sent us before its destruction, they are nowhere near any level of concern." He paused. "What are of importance are their FTL technologies." The holo changed again, this time to a camera view from an ODP. It showed the ships at the max range of the platforms, a still considerable distance. Not a moment after, the ships were wrapped in a blur aura. A split second later, they were within point defense range of the ODPs. "They are capable of short range accurate jumps. And all signs point to it not being slipspace."

Again it changed to show the planet Shanxi, this time; however, it was surrounded by red marks. "We sent a Prowler to recon the system. Reinforcements have been rolling in. Fleet Admiral."

"We're sending you to retake the system. As of right now, only UNSC forces will be at your disposal. The New Covenant will serve as the First Strike Force once we gain more intelligence and find a suitable target. Any and all tactics and weapons are available to you. Battle Group Epilson will be your command. Any questions?"

**Current time**

A sensors officer knocked him from the memory. "Sir, I'm reading over seventy contacts in position near Shanxi."

"Classifications?"

"Sirs, based on size and projected weights, the majority are reading as corvette-tonnage vessels. Three cruiser-tonnage vessels. The rest read as frigate and destroyer-tonnage vessels."

"Send down the Heaven's Wings with the Dawn of Light and the Forward Unto Dawn as escort. Let's get those people some help. Have them start deploying ODSTs and groundside forces." The Heaven's Wings, among the three Carriers in the battle group carried not only their standard compliment of fighters but over a battalion of the 105th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Division, better known as 'The Helljumpers.' "Solera," to his right, a hologram of a woman dressed in the armor of an Amazonian Warrior appeared "Hail them and use whatever you can to access their linguistic programs. All ships, prep for combat but hold fire."

"Sir, they are ignoring hails. Should I-"

"Sir! Energy spikes among the enemy ships!"

"Enemy vessels are beginning to enter into some sort of formation."

De La Rosa sighed. He knew what the reason he was sent here, but he had hoped that diplomacy was an option. Apparently it was not. "Weapons station, are receiving signals from the mines?"

"Confirmed sir, receiving ten signals from Hornet-Class Stealth Mines. Armed and ready to detonate on your command."

"Alright, hold off on activation. I-"

Solera held up a palm. "Hold on, I'm getting a data stream from the planet."

"Is it Second Eden?"

"No, it's a superintendent-class AI. Getting a status report and video feed. Decompressing and analyzing no-oh my god." The moment the bridge crew heard the AI, everything stopped. With the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence creation, especially 'smart' AIs, they could process the whole of known recorded history, Human, New Covenant and Forerunner, in the span of a few hours of first activation. And they did it with the barest of shudders. The genocides committed when Humanity was still trapped to Earth. The atrocities committed during the Human-Covenant War. And the wars recorded by the Forerunners. War crimes had been committed. They accepted it. What they processed did indeed disturb them, but they did not let it affect them. For an AI to be shocked by what they had seen, meant that whatever she had seen was near unprecedented.

When the bridge crew turned to face Solera's avatar, she had crumpled to the 'floor' of her projector. Propping herself 'up' with her arms. "Solera." The Rear Admiral whispered in a voice so low, she almost missed it. She turned her 'head' to face the rear admiral, though she was an AI, there was a display look of real anguish. "Show me." She shook her head no. "Solera," the Jesse repeated. "Show me."

This time she did nod. Standing back up, her face had changed from sadness to rage, her voice was laced with so much venom and anger it sent a shudder down the backs of a few who heard her. "No mercy." She snarled before her avatar disappeared and a direct beam flashed from her podium into the admiral's eyes. Seconds later, it stopped and his face displayed no emotion. Then, pure primal rage appeared.

"No mercy." He whispered. He stood from the command chair. "Slave activation command to my station. Coms, fleet wide broadcast."

"Aye Sir, fleetwide broadcast. Confirmed, everyone hears you sir."

"All ships, this is Rear Admiral Jesse De La Rosa. I have no speech for you. I have no rallying cry." Across the fleet, men and woman stopped in their actions to listen to their commander. From the lowly Marine private shining his boots and cleaning his rifle, to a mighty Colonel to the UNSC ODST division and the Captains of the other vessels. "For there is no need. You all know what this is. You all know of the Covenant war." Some of the older veterans who remembered the last days of that war gritted their teeth or flexed old wounds at the memories. "What we do here today, will determine if Humanity is a mice among giants hiding the darkness still." The younger generation relived their memories of when they first saw both UNSC ships and those of the New Covenant side-by-side over a planet. How small those the UNSC were to the aliens." Or if we now stand tall amongst stars!" A cheer rang through every deck, ever y hall and every voice on every ship. The unveiling on the UNSC INF-101 series 'dreadnought' warship was the proudest moment of Humanity. It meant that they now could stand they were now equal and perhaps even surpassed those that were once their enemies. "These alien bastards have taken this world, and now see what they have done!" A mental command via his neural link sent the video Solera had shown him to every single display on every ship in the UNSC fleet. The cheers suddenly died down as they saw what occurred on Shanxi. Entire settlements were burning. Plumes of smoke filled the skies. The veterans gripped their weapons tighter as old memories once again resurfaced. The image shifted to that in a city. Civilians ran through the streets of an unnamed town. Fires burned, the light streaks of rounds were visible as they passed the camera by. Going over the civilians and killing others. Police officers could be seen here and there trying to fight back but were soon cut down by the unseen invaders. Again it changed, this time it showed a dozens of people being lined against a wall, and then they were mercilessly cut down. Again it changed, and across the fleet, more than a handful vomited what remained of their lunches. Human remains, least what remained after the aliens had feasted upon them. The bones were piled in a great stack. How tall, no one knew, and no one wanted to know. "These animals, no, these monsters, have committed atrocities not seen since the Human-Covenant war! You need no speech! Only your rage! And their blood!" A roar of rage and anger was thundered by every man and woman on every ship. All of them eager for battle.

**Carrier: Heaven's Wings: SOEIV bay: 10 minutes before drop**

On the drop deck of the Heaven's Wings, at dozens of points throughout the deck, several squads of ODSTs in armor, some helmeted, some not, stood around a pair holodisplays projecting two separate images of Second Eden and Shanix's atmosphere. The holographic Second Eden was surrounded by a mass of red while the planet was speckled with red and blue dots.

In Section 06, closest to the display was Jester squad. "Shit, this is Shanxi?" Private Maks asked, a relatively young ODST, he had only a few combat drops under his belt, being called 'the Rook' for his youth. "Where are the ODPs?" The Rook still had his helmet on, but it was un-polarized, showing his face. Strapped to his right thigh was a Type-27 Directed Energy Rifle or "Plasma Rifle". "I mean, those things can take out a New Covenant ship in one shot, so these things…I mean, how the fuck could they take them out?"

"They did." Designated Marksmen Sargent Lance Trel answered. His helmet was sitting on the holodisplay, he was cradling a SRS99D-S5 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle in his hands, and had an M395-B Designated Marksmen Rifle on his back. "The stations took out one of the bastard ships but the others dodged them. Used some sort of weird shit to get right in the stations' faces, took them out at point blank range." Lance had the reputation of ALWAYS being the first to read the reports, and getting a bit more info then there was.

"Shit, just like that?" Rook asked. "But aren't these things, I don't know, invincible?"

"No, they're not. The enemy ships struck the critical junctions of the station. Skill or luck, they got it right." Corporal Hadrian Maxim answered. He was older than the majority of the other ODSTs in his squad, pushing into his forties. "You read the reports; the station was pummeled by these aliens' main cannons. Shoot anything enough times and it'll snap under the pressure." Strapped on his back was a M95 Close Assault Weapon, along with spare rocket canisters. He was the designated Heavy-weapons trooper of the squad, usually carrying the heavier arms for to break up large infantry groups or for anti-armor. "But-"He stopped hearing the door to the launch bay open to allow a single heavy armored trooper into the bay. He like everyone else turned to see the new arrival. His armor was standard ODST trooper gear, but had so many bolt-ons and modifications it bore little resemblance to the original gear, they all saw the double silver bars on his left and right shoulder signifying his rank: A Captain. One distinguishing feature was the image of Phoenix with its wings raised stamped over the right side of his armor, contacting his chest, left arm, shoulder and neck. What drew everyone's attention was the right side of the man's armor: three horizontal bars, one on top of the other. "SpecOps…" He muttered. Everyone in the bay knew this wasn't a simple mission anymore, whenever they got involved, it was scary stuff. SpecOps wasn't even the official name for those soldiers; it was just scuttlebutt or rumors that went around. If they had one, no one knew. Last time they were involved with a SpecOps agent, they ended up having to take down a Sanghelli insurgency. The ODSTs ended up with stopping the release of some sort of Forerunner bio-agent they found before the canister detonated. They had lost a lot of good men that day.

"Officer on deck!" Every single trooper straightened. Their reaction upon seeing anyone of lieutenant rank or higher.

"At ease." Said a voice behind the ODSTs, who turned to see their Colonel, who went by the call-sign Shadow, a grizzled man, he was easily into his sixties but thanks to the miracle of modern medicine he looked as though he was in his mid-forties. He had gained the respect of every single last man and woman under his command. "As you all know Shanix is currently under siege. We have lost all other population centers and military outposts except for Second Eden. The majority of survivors are focused in the city. City defenses went up as reports of hostiles unknowns was sent to the planet. We don't know the current situation right now in the city, all we know is that General Williams and his soldiers have been fighting for the better part of several days alone and already they have taken what few population centers and military bases there are and have received reinforcements." He paused seeing one of the troopers raise a hand. "Yes trooper?"

"Sir, any intel on the hostiles? Are they Sanghelli or Kig-yar? Innies?"

"None, they are two hitherto unknown alien species," A few mutters passed through the ranks, before he dropped the bombshell. "There are two alien species and they possess unknown abilities." Now the mutters became full blown questions.

"Sir what are you talking about? What powers?"

"I don't know, all I know is they have some sort of energy manipulation ability." With that an image of a reptilian looking creature appeared, the video started to play, soon the alien was wrapped in a cloak of blue-black energy, it threw its hand forward, a sphere of energy flew from its hand. The sphere impacted a colonial marine, throwing him backwards; another video started playing where another marine was flung forward toward one of the aliens. Taking a step back from the group, he walked toward the armory nearing the drop pods, "But understand this, we are not here to understand what they are, who they are, or what they want." He picked up an MA5-D rifle, "We are here for one purpose and one purpose only: we are here to take back Shanix from the idiot bastards who think they can take what belongs to the System Alliance!"

"They have been fighting cops, civilians, and soldiers! They think they have nothing to fear, they think that they can win!" The rage coming off the marines was thick in the air.

"But we are ODST! We are the Elite! The rest of our friends will be going down in dropships, enjoying tea and crumpets, and listening to fine music all the way, but not us! How are we leaving this ship boys and girls?!"

It was not planned, it was not tradition, but it was something burned into the minds and souls of all ODSTs, from the new recruit to the experienced officer, gained through drops they all shared, they all knew the question and they all knew the answer as one: "WE LEAVE FEET FIRST SIR!"

"Damn straight! Now shove a cork in your asses and get in your pods. Only two kinds of aliens are staying in this planet! The dead, and those who are going to die, NOW GET MOVING!

"HOO RAH!"

All the ODSTs soon dispersed, each heading to their own individual pods, sliding in and securing the hatch. Within minutes over a thousand ODSTs throughout the ship had entered their pods, now dangling over open air from the bowels of the ship.

The radio crackled to life and the colonel's voice came over the comm. "We are dropping into Hell! Get ready to fly Marines!"

Soon they pods dropped and hundreds of men and woman began hurtling toward the surface of Shanix. Every single one of them with only one thing on their minds: making the enemy regret ever coming to Shanxi, and having them pay in blood.

Back on the Era, as thousands of Drop-pods rained onto the planet, the Admiral sent the activation codes to the mines scattered across space. For an instant, ten spheres of nuclear fire appeared in the vacuum, dissipating as quickly as they appeared, the only remnants from the bombs themselves a fast dying nuclear flame.

Over two dozen enemy ships were caught in the blast. The majority of them corvettes, along with two frigates and a cruiser, only the last survived at the edge. "All ships, fire at will. Engage targets." At his command, as planned before: Of the twenty-nine vessels, more than half the frigates began moving away from the group and heading towards the planet. Their task was to provide support and supplies for the likely beleaguered defenders below. The destroyers, led by the new Heracles, charged forth in a wolf pack. Their H-MACs firing with deadly accuracy the moment any ships entered their range. As the enemy soon learned, these cannons possessed a far greater lethality, than their older counterparts. Any ship struck by these rounds were gutted as the round passed from bow to stern, or cracked in half as they struck midway. Whether they were of the angular design or the flying blocks of metal, the only difference being the latter had larger corpses. Some were clean misses, other scraping what the aliens considered shields. Popping them in a display of arcing electricity as it was thrown about by the transfer of energy. Within moments over a dozen ships were out of the fight.

Archer missiles flew from their ports and slammed into the shields then hulls. Warping the metal and destroying everything within. The Admiral watched all this from the bridge with a dispassionate look as his ships decimated the enemies. 'This is too easy. Ackerson said these aliens had short-distance capable FTL drives. So why haven't they-'A small ripple streaked across the shield in front of the bridge, followed by another.

"Solera, report."

"Impacts are reading as low-power Mass accelerator shots and antimatter missiles. Shields are holding at 100%." She paused as she manipulated the center table on the bridge. Her snarl not having disappaited in the least, the display showed the entire battlespace around Shanxi. The UNSC warships were utterly annihilating the alien warships at range. The battle was far from a completely one sided fight. "Mostly likely pot-shots than an actual strike, but we have other problems." On the display, several of the UNSC ships were highlighted. They, in a fit of bloodlust or glory seeking, had split off from their groups, charging off on their own, and had paid the price. Three Rider-Class light frigates and two Montreal-Class Heavy-Frigates floated dead in space. Their hulls breached and flames pouring out from great rip on the hull. The aliens had to concentrate their fire but the rapid fire capabilities of their spinal cannons could tear through their shields thanks to their numbers. Their anti-matter missiles, once the shields were done, could rip into the hull far easier than Archer missiles. Coupled with their FTL, which he saw on the display, the alien warships could force the range to where the UNSC ships were relying on their autocannons to fight back while the aliens still had access to their full arsenal. A Midway-Class destroyer, the Heart of Sparta started to tumble in space as it was attacked by no less than a dozen corvettes-tonnage ships and another three frigates and one of the cruiser-tonnage. Each had some sign of damage, either lucky survivors from the Hornet Mines, or part of Hunter-Killer Pack that had taken down four of five downed UNSC warships. They had been using their FTL drives and sublight engines to rapidly close the distance between themselves and their targets. The Sparta's hull flare in pockets as it attempted to use its chemical boosters to reorient itself. As it was turning, dozens of anti-matter missiles struck along the length of its hull. Explosions strafed the side of the warship, missiles detonated inside their tubes, triggering a chain of explosions, reaching its reactor. The detonation of the reactor sheared the Sparta in two. Bodies and scrap floated out from the wreck.

The Era of Retaliation itself was, relatively far from the battle. Though it, like the others had moved forward, all the alien warships had quickly pulled themselves out of the Era's line of fire before she could even fire a shot. Even now they had stayed out of the fight.

"Helmsman, take us towards that hunter/killer pack. Solera, once we get within range, I want as many of our cannons firing on their ships."

Solera nodded. "Understood. All hands, brace for hard rotation." Across the ship, chemical boosters placed at key points detonated. Rotating the 1.1 kilometer warship faster than normal. Within seconds what was once the 'top' was now the 'bottom', as all orientation was relative to one's point of view in space.

**Turian Dreadnought: Obelisk of Turipa**

On the bridges of the Council dreadnought, shock was plastered on the face of every individual that witnessed the action. "Spirits how did they!" Desolas cried out. "Quick, get us away from that thing's guns! Bring us to us towards its underbelly! Argh!" When the aliens' fleet had first arrived in the system, they were shocked by the size and the number of vessels that had arrived. Twenty five ships the length of a Turian cruiser, three ships, each three times as long as a standard dreadnought, and then then behemoth. The massive, imposing ship, over five times the size of the Destiny Ascension by length alone. He dared not to even imagine the power of its main gun. "All ships! Avoid that behemoth at all costs! Someone tell me where that thing is going!" He and Torsk had called in every single possible favor, string, and blackmail they had to gather this fleet. Not just from their own ships, some were from the Turian Navy and the Krogan Navy, but the vast majority were PMCs, mercenaries and freelance crews that had managed to obtain their own ships. At first, they, or at least he, thought it had been over kill. But now their numbers had been reduced to half, if that.

"Sir, tracking projected route. It's, it's heading towards Hexilon pack!" That pack was one that had been formed at the start of the two commander's joint career and had an unprecedented level of teamwork within the fleet, and against these new aliens it showed. Despite the alien's superior defenses, they had managed to overwhelm several of their ships that had separated from the group and focused on them one by one. Now it seemed, their success would be their undoing.

Through the viewport, they saw the massive behemoth started to rotate at ludicrous speeds until what could only be described as its 'top' was facing Hexilon. "Get me those captains on the comm! Tell them to disperse their-"The General never finished his statement as he saw the 'top' of the alien super-dreadnought flash as its weapons began firing on Hexilion pack. The effect was nothing short of devastating. Thousands upon thousands of slugs streaked across space towards the pack of frigates and cruisers. Every ship's engines flared bright white as they were pushed to their limit to try and leave the kill zone. It was futile effort. Within seconds, were pounded by a monsoon of lead and shrapnel, their hulls began to buckle then shattered entirely as magnetic accelerator rounds of varying sizes and autocannon shells slammed into the council ships. Their kinetic barriers had shattered from the moment the barrage began and did nothing to save the crews within. Within seconds, fifteen ships were floating coffins, and the behemoth ceased fire and began turning to face-"Spirits! Get us moving! They're targeting us!"

The hull of the Turipa groaned as it was stretched to its limits by the g-forces as it accelerated to its maximum in an effort to get out of the line of fire. Around it, other vessels attempted the same. "Get me those planetside! Everyone! We are pulling out!" Every Turian on the bridge stared at the commanding officer, for a Turian officer to call for a retreat was near unheard of. Even during the Rachini Wars, any orders to fall back were incredibly rare. "You heard me! Get everyone we can back to the dropships! We stay only to get as many as we can back to the ships. Order those who are no longer combat effective back through the relay first. This battle is lost."

"Sir! Torsk is on the comm! He-" The officer never finished as the scarred Krogan's image suddenly appeared on the bridge.

"Desolas!" He roared, "What in the name of Kalros and her spawn are you doing! You dare to retreat?" If not for the fact that they were on separate vessels the Turian general had no doubts that his Krogan counterpart would have torn him limb from limb.

"This battle is lost and you and I both know that." He answered. "I know what we both came here to the back end of Council space for. I know since I was the one to suggest it. But I will be damned before I sacrifice the lives of those under my command for a battle we have no chance of winning!" Pointing a talon in the general direction of the alien behemoth he added, "Have you seen the guns on that monster? It just took out fifteen, Fifteen, of our ships! Without even using any of its primary weapons! For all we know those were its point-defense guns! You want to stay here fine! But I am leaving!"

"Coward! Have you forgotten what I carry on my ship! The tools of war those tin-plated cowards on the Council refuse to allow?" Torsk finished with a savage grin. Even as another three ships disappeared from the roster.

"No, no. Don't you dare. We are members of the Council. We are not barbarians. We are not monsters. You do this Torsk, and we both somehow make it back the Citadel, you are on your own."

"Fine by me. Get out of here you coward. I'll make these fools realize the full might of the Krogan Empire." With that the display turned off. The rest of the bridge crew looked towards Desolas, waiting for their orders.

With a heavy heart and knowing the stigma would follow his family and his line for generations unknown, he gave the command. "Order the retreat."


	4. Shanix: Contact, Conflict, Tragedy: Editted

Alternate Past Uncertain Future MKII

Thank you to my friend and fellow writer EspionageDB7 as he is known on deviantart. For letting me use a member of his family as the inspiration and core of General Williams. It is my honor, and I truly hope I have done him justice.

Ch 4: Edit

Shanxi: Contact, Conflict, Tragedy

**Day of First Contact**

Brigadier General Bertoldo Williams, despite being at almost 75 years of age, sprinted with the speed of a young recruit to the command center of the Shanxi's Colonial Defense Force Headquarters in the main settlement of Second Eden. He had been alerted the moment several civilian ships are begun making transition from vacuum to atmosphere, all of them screaming about 'another Covenant War' and 'alien invaders.' Marching inside he began yelling out orders, "Someone! Get those civvies to calm down and get down here! I want a debrief from them as soon as we can! Get the Way on the comm. and I want it ten minutes ago! Send out an alert to all settlements, prepare to enact Harvest Rain Protocol!"

Throughout the command center shock was prevalent on the faces of the men and women inside. Harvest Rain was the emergency protocol in the event that they were invaded by a threat potentially on the scale of the old Covenant; total annihilation. It was more of an extra contingency that most expected would never be enacted. Requiring people from many settlements to make their way to Second Eden with all haste. The city, the largest one on the planet, was built directly into a mountain. The mountain itself had been carved by nature so that there was a great cut into the mountain side. Allowing the side to be protected from three directions by the mountains themselves, and the edge of the city provided a great deal of protection itself. Sheer drops existed along the length of the mountain line. Making it so that the only way to reach the city or the carved out mountain side was over a chasm or by air.

"Well come on then! Get out the warning! If we have to evac the civvies I want it done so fast it looks fucking choreographed!" The General's loud voice shook them out of their stupor and began rushing to prepare for the contingency. One of the officers signaled towards him and the main holo display in the center of the room. Soon it began projecting an image of the planet of Shanxi and next to it appeared the face of the Way's captain. ""Right of Way, Right of Way. What the hell is going on out there? I've got civilian ships panicking about a 'New Covenant' and 'invading armies'. Just what the hell did you people find?" Williams knew of the science team, he had made requests that the Relic just be hurled into the sun but those even higher on the chain of command overruled him.

And now, despite the trepidations he felt, he maintained a stoic face. He knew that those around him need a rock, something to place their faith in, and he was that rock. It took all he had not to pale when the captain responded, "Sir, I can't tell you how relived I am to hear your voice. We have encountered a new hostile alien race, I repeat they are hostile. Their guns don't got much punch but they got the numbers sir. I'm leaking atmosphere, got multiple hull breeches and damn sure these guys are not far behind."

Nodding he turned back to his officers. Harvest Rain is now in effect, get the word out! Tell the Defense Platforms to arm up. We got company coming. Recall all troopers on shore leave. All UNSC personal are to report to the nearest command post ASAP and arm up." He turned back to the holodisplay, "Get your ass within the grid Captain. We'll give these bastards a 'Welcome To Shanxi' Gift basket." Williams's had a near feral grin. "I'm ordering the civilians into the bunkers. We're sending a message to HighCom on Earth but don't expect anything for a while. Mind dropping whatever you extra ordinace you got on that boat of yours my way? I think we're going to need it." He knew the hidden message, hoping for the best, but preparing if the situation went seriously FUBAR.

"Understood sir." The captain's image stopped being projected and the display soon focused only on Shanxi. On the holodisplay, red lines began reaching out from the symbols representing each of the ODPs. Each line targeting one vessel each, as the cannons fired, a blue dot disappeared from the TacMp. Despite his surprise at two of the unknown vessels avoiding the shots of the ODPS, he chalked it up to more as luck then skill. Soon the ODPs holographic representations flashed as it marked their firing upon the newly placed red marks at the end of their maximum range. Red lines marked the flight path of their shots. One red mark disappeared from the display than another, the third red line simply continued into the void. Williams smirked, thinking that the platforms would pick off the new aliens before they came even close. Then, things went wrong. The Generals mouth fell open in shock at what happened next. "What?" His reaction was mirrored by all who were watching the TacMp as the unknown vessels disappeared from the TacMp then reappeared. All behind the minimum cones of fire of the ODPs, everyone could only watch in shock as the IFF transponders representing each of the ODPs stopped transmitting as each station was destroyed before they could react. Each station lost was the death hundreds of men and women stationed on them. A Lieutenant watching the TacMp whispered, "Good god…"

Snapping out of his shock, the General started snapping off new orders, "Get on the horn and tell everyone we got incoming, I want all our troops and armor deployed five minutes ago and get the civilians inside the bunkers now! Tell all outer cities and bases to be ready to evac to Second Eden at a moment's notice. Do it now!" He hoped all this would be enough, it was bad enough he didn't know what he was facing, but the fact he had civilians to protect made it all the worse. 'Sun Tzu was right, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." The only question now is, how many will we lose?' And Williams did not look forward to the answer.

**Tero City**

In the city, a group of young men and women, eight in total, were running full tilt down the street towards the local starport. "So," One of them, Terrence Heldin, 'Hood' as he was called by his friends, a joking reference to commander of the UNSC, started, "Any idea why shore leave was cut so early?"

"No idea." Another, a young woman named Katy Geran, answered. She was the go-getter of the group. You need help, or needed something, she'll help you, or at least find you a way to get out of whatever troubles you found yourself in. "But I'm putting my money on Alexei." Pointing her thumb at the one trailing behind them. "Alexei's in trouble with the captain again!" She added in a sing-song voice.

"Oh ha ha ha Katy." Answered Alexei Rasnuv, his voice thick with his Russia Accent despite colonial upbringing. He was the biggest of the group, standing at 6 and half feet or almost 2 meters. If any of them ever need serious help, he was the one they called. Yet despite his rough exterior, was labeled as the 'Group Teddy Bear', hiding a kind soul underneath his rough appearance. They still joked about how they found out about his ability to design wedding dresses. An ability, he blamed, on his older and younger sisters, being the only boy among 5 children. Along with being bullheaded on occasion. "If anything it's probably Maho's fault."

"Me! What did I do?" The youngest of the group, Maho Febeor, was the company wisecrack. He was always making jokes on just about everything: ticking off the other troopers and his superiors as often as he made them laugh. Despite all that, he was a crack-shot. The best of them at least, and possibly the best on the whole planet, claiming the record for longest target shot at multiple miles, hitting a target the size of a playing card. "Oh come on, why is it always my fault?"

"Because it often is." Cris Lee, their resident tech expert. He could've had a full-scholarship and paid trip back to Sol with his choice of any school back on Earth. Instead, he joined the UNSC. He gained immense respect from his fellows after he had demonstrated his tech skills and had hacked into the one of the officer's terminals and exposed his 'discrediting' actions. Particular among the women of the group due to nature of said 'actions'. "You cause more trouble than the rest of us combined. Even Squid."

Squl'de Qurad or 'Squid' as he was known by his friends was among the only half dozen or so of Sangheili on the entire planet. He gained his nickname when he first introduced himself and someone butchered the pronunciation and soon after, the name stuck. Despite that, he found himself in good company in the UNSC, and even better friends. He and several others of his friends from Sanghelios joined the UNSC as a gag. But unlike his other friends, took the duty seriously. And at his request, been reassigned to a Colony planet, due to unlike most others of his race, he was more pacifist in nature than most. Not to say he hated fighting, no his friends, and their bruises, could attest to that. Though due to him being Sangheili had to deal with some Xenophobes, but found his friends, the ones he was traveling with, coming to his defense whenever it occurred. "It is true, small one. You are indeed both a source of trouble and entertainment."

"He is right you know." Serana Ke'dar added. Another Sangheili, she was one of few who had decided to join the military. However, as Sangheili society was still largely patriarchal, it was much easier to join the UNSC then the Spear of Sangheili, the Sangheili Military Forces. "You do cause a lot of trouble. Remember that little trick shot you tried to pull off last week? The one where you took a joyride on a Pelican taking off and tried to snipe the Sergeant's coffee mug?"

"It wasn't even close to his face!" He yelled. "Sure he almost lost a few fingers but he's still fine."

"No. It's something much bigger." The oldest of them, Mich Zao, "I just got off the comm. with my brother. He's says the brass at SecEd is mobilizing everything on the planet." His family had a long line of people with military service; he was just the latest among generations in a military centered family. At everyone's disbelieve he reconfirmed what he said. "Yes, he said that everyone and I mean everyone, including reserves and the local militia has been told to report in. There's been mass deployment and he just received news that a cruiser was going to drop off its entire contingent before heading out."

"A whole cruiser?" Are you serious?" Hood asked. A cruisers full complement of troops, vehicles, munitions and other supplies would enough to arm a colony the size of Shanix twice over. At least. "What the hell would we need all that firepower for?"

"Yes, I am curious as well." Squid added. "I do not-" He stopped. Not just mid-speech but stopped entirely. Noticing this, the others did as well.

"Squid? What are you doing? Come on we got to go."

"Do you not hear it?" He was looking up, searching the skies for something.

"What are you talking about? Come on Squid lets go." At this point Alexei tried to pull on his friend's shoulder when the Sangheili stopped him and snarled.

"Stop and listen! Do you not hear it!" This time, the entire group stopped, along with most of the street. Slowly but surely, there was a low thrumming noise that, as they listened, became louder.

"What is that? Is that a Pelican or an Osprey?" Cris asked. "Or is one of your ships Squid?"

"Well it's not human. Human ships are louder, and I would recognize any of them." Mich said. He worked with the Navy boys and the mechanics in his spare time.

"And it is not of Sangheili origin either." Serana added. "I do not hear the workings of an anti-grav generator." That meant it was not any of the insurrectionists or Instruments. Nor Kig-Yar pirates or Unggoy mercenaries.

"Then what is it?" They kept searching, as the sounds got louder and more widespread. "Well whatever it is, it's getting closer. And a lot of them by the sound of it." Hood said. The clouds grew darker, a shadow appeared in the skies. First one then two, and another, soon the skies were filled with shadows: the silhouettes of whatever cast them, and numbered in the dozens. They soon got their answer. Dropships, scores of them came out from the skies. But design not seen before; some were triangular, the three sided-shape possessing a heavy influence in their designs, while the others were little more than flying boxes. "They're landing in the Temura Square. Come on; let's see what's going on." The others agreed and began moving, the square was in the same general direction as the starport, but they still needed to make several detours to reach the square. By the time they arrived, several of the unknowns ships had landed, forming a defensive circle. But as of yet, none had disembarked.

"What's going on?" The local police forces had arrived long before and had taken positions around the circle and were in the process of ushering civilians away. "Hey, you kids!" They turned to see a SWAT officer, decked out in full armor and carrying an M-96 Combat Shotgun across his back approaching them. "What are you doing? Get out of here and go back to your homes until we sort this all out."

"We're UNSC, we came to see if we could help." Katy told the officer.

"All of you?" The officer raised a brow in suspicion, even those two? Refering to the Sangheili pair with them. "Thought Sangs weren't allowed in the UNSC. Speaking of which, if you are, you know what's going on?"

"We don't know either. Just that everyone's been called back to base. They're mobilizing but what for we don't know."

The officer nodded. "Right in that case, you better get to the starport. Heard all the military-" He stopped at hearing the whirring of gears. The doors to the ships began to open. "Alright people, party's starting. Hold your fire until I say so." From the angular vessels tall, lean creatures stepped out, carrying weapons of unseen design: sleeker and smoother than most, comparable to weapons of the Sangheili. They possessed avian features, their skin shined slightly in the sun. Speaking in clicks and chirps. From the others, taller, muscular reptilian creatures stepped forth. Possessing large crests on their heads, like the dinosaurs of old, their skin scaly like so. Possessing large humps, and their features grim and filled with rage and bloodlust. Their snarls and grunts filling the people around the square with fear. And their weapons, designed not with sleek and grace, but rather power and brutality.

"Squid. Cris. You guys recognize these guys? What are they?" Maho asked.

"I do not know. Never in our history have the people of Sangheilios ever encountered such creatures. Though I relish the opportunity to fight the ones with the scaled heads." Serana answered.

"Never saw anything in the Forerunner databases either. Least not what's been uncovered so far." Cris added. Though Humanity as the 'Reclaimers' as labeled by the Monitors of the Forerunner installations that had been discovered, were granted access to most of the services within each installation, their access was largely limited still.

The tension was so stiff in the air; it could be cut with a dull knife. The SWAT officer stepped forward. His shotgun still slung across his back, but his hand resting on the M7-C series Magnum pistol sidearm. "Greetings I am Officer Samuel Uras. And I welcome you to Shanix."

"What the hell is he doing?" The others agreed with the shock in his voice. To them, and many others, it appeared to be suicide.

"He's trying to be diplomatic. What I'm wondering is, why is he doing this? Shouldn't it be a politician there?"

Along the square however, the various officers and SWAT members were getting nervous. The larger creatures were spreading out, as were their more avian fellows. Their weapons raised, and their speech, though they could not understand it, even those with Universal translator implants, sounded threatening and their grips on their weapons tightened.

One of the aliens, the more avian species stepped forth. This one possessed matte black armor, the obvious leader of the group, approaching the SWAT officer. It spoke in clicks and chirps like the others of its species, none of which the officer understood, but thankful was holding its odd rifle in a nonthreatening manner.

Nearby, one of the reptilian aliens had begun to argue with one of the avian aliens, and if their actions were any indication, understood one another. One of them was waving their gun around, while the other was obviously trying to calm them down. The people only got ever more fearful, and one of the new guys on the force had his finger close to the trigger.

The officer and the alien seemed to be trying to communicate but failing. The officer was trying to gesture for the alien to follow him while said alien was trying to get the officer to hand over, if what it was pointing at was any indicator, the officer's shotgun. When the alien made to grab the officer, he stepped back, and raised his hand. "Whoa. Hold it there. Now we don't understand each other but I'm not too keen on being that friendly yet." His one sniper unit clicked his comm.

"Sir, should we open fire."

"Negative. Hold your fire. So far they've done nothing."

"Alright sir but I,-Watch out!" The sniper had noticed one of the larger aliens approach his superior weapon in hand. The sniper didn't even think. He just trained his crosshair on the alien's cranium and pulled the trigger.

The alien's crest did not slow down the 14.5 by 114mm Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot round at all. Piercing through the alien's head cleanly, the report of the sniper rifle echoes through the square. And then, silence.

Then everyone began opening fire. The alien that had approached the officer began to raise its rifle and pulled the trigger. However Uras had already begun moving after the first shot, pulling his pistol as he went. When the alien opened fire, the rounds struck nothing but air. Uras fired his pistol once; an orange barrier shimmered as it was struck by the 12.7mm HE round. Uras fired again, twice, three times, until the barrier shattered and fired a fifth round, striking the alien in the head, crumpling as it fell. Around him though, his subordinates were not having the same luck as he did. Some were destroyed by the crested aliens' immense weapons, tearing their bodies apart in a single blast, while others were picked off by concentrated and controlled fire from the avian aliens' rifles. Some fell riddled with bullets, others seemed to catch fire. Others, parts of their body snapped-froze on impact with the alien munitions, some were unlucky enough to have limbs shattered from the unknown rounds then successive fire. The unlucky few were simply rammed by the crested alien; charging forward, taking fire head on: charging through a group of officers, the luckiest getting away with a broken limb, the worst been smashed into a nearby wall. The aliens were also taking casualties; their one sniper kept picking off whoever was unlucky enough to be caught out in the open, remaining unscathed in his post several hundred yards away, spraying brain matter and bodies all over the square. While others were taken down by concentrated fire either by 12.7mm magnum fire or from 7.62mm rounds from the few other SWAT officers' old MA5 Series rifles. The crested aliens fell after a barrage of weapon's fire, their bodies gained several dozen kilos in bullets, falling mere meters from the officers' feet. Those who tested and proven themselves on the firing range proved their skills in combat, taking out the avian aliens with precision fire from cover. One shot, two shots, three and four, dropping shields, severing limbs and destroying weapons and popping heads with precision fire. It was hell, it was bloody, and for some it was glorious. But for the officers, it was simply duty. And that duty was to protect the civilians.

While the majority fought, the few who didn't, rather than cower as most would assume, presented their backs to the aliens. They were directing civilians away from the square and towards evacuation stations, making themselves easy targets. But more than a few of the aliens opened fire on the crowd, or at least tried too. Officers and a few other brave souls who saw the aliens aiming towards them, turned themselves into living shields, taking as many rounds as they could before they fell, most who attempted to aim at the crowed were obliterated by concentrated fire before they could pull the trigger.

On the side of the aliens, any wounded in between the two sides found themselves saved by their comrades more often than not. More than a few charged out into the lines of fire, risking themselves to save the wounded. Spraying rounds without regard, just to create an opening to retrieve their injured fellow.

The group of eight had taken cover behind some cars the moment the first shot was fired. "Shit! Well now we know they're hostiles." Maho yelled. The others agreed. "So anyone got a plan?" Suggestions were made by most to either head for the starport or head to the police station and get some arms, the former taking majority. Of the group though, Cris wasn't paying attention but rather looking towards the firefight, specifically at the aliens' weapons.

"Interesting," He noticed how the weapons did not eject any sort of shell casings as they fired so they were not conventional projectile weaponry like those employed by the UNSC, neither were they energy weapons: their projectiles, when they struck, did not cause a burning effect like plasma based weapons tech did. However when fired too often, the shooter had to stop as heated air blasted out the sides of the weapon. "Hmm."

Someone grabbed his shoulder, acting on instinct; he spun moving to strike when he recognized Katy. "Cris, come on let's go." He nodded; the eight of them couldn't do anything to help the police who were being overwhelmed. They had to leave and link up with the command at Second Eden. Failing that, get whatever intel they could back to them. But as he looked over his shoulder, taking one last look at the carnage behind him, he muttered, "This will be but one battle of another great war."

**Second Eden: Military Command Center**

The General stood motionless, even as his officers ran around him, getting and delivering status reports, troop deployments, and casualties list and so on. All his attention was on the Tactical Map display in front of him, his features grim. Shanxi was a comparatively unique colony, in how it built itself. It was the first new colony since the end of the Wars. Until Shanxi all efforts had been on reclamation and terraforming on planets lost. Shanxi had been a new one and implemented the new regulations when it came to colonial construction. Second Eden had been built with the idea of a fortress in mind. A last bastion of defense or a safe haven in case of invasion, streets were designed to enhance asymmetrical warfare by the defenders, integrated deployable roadblocks had been installed in the roads themselves, bunker entrances for civilians were scattered throughout the city. And that was only the city itself.

Outside another series of explosions dotted the skies as enemy aircraft were shot down by Second Eden's powerful defense grid, their remains scattered across the city. On rooftops and specifically designated buildings Anti-Air craft systems of all types ranging from missiles to Gatling guns and autocannons and Onager Mass Drivers protected the skies. An alien corvette pair had learned the hard way that the city would not fall easily. The city possessed a grand total of three Onager Mass Driver cannons, each one could be remotely or manually piloted and right now, their controllers had already drawn up an impressive killstreak. Two corvettes had attempted to subjugate the city from above but the Onagers 'dissuaded' their captains from trying after a few Onager shots. One had made it outside the atmosphere pulling straight up the moment the AA-Grid began to pummel it, its companion had not been so lucky. Whether the captain simply panicked or not was unknown but the second corvette attempted to flee away from the city but stayed in atmosphere. It had started trailing smoke and fire as it left the effective range of most the defense grid. Then, in an incredible display of marksmen ship, one of the Onager gunners aimed his cannon just over the ship and fired. The 15cm slug cored, literally cored one of the engines. The slug traveled from the top and through the bottom taking a mass of metal, and wire with it. The remaining engine flared brightly but with one engine, it could not defy Sir Isaac Newton. It crashed into the planet, its nosed crumpled from the impact, sliding across the dirt. Cheers hadn't even started before the wreck detonated in a bright blue flame, creating a crater some times the size of the ship itself. Even now after so many hours the wreck still burned. But that was just one victory, to so many losses.

Within hours they had begun to lose the outer towns then the cities, Williams had ordered for everyone who could to evacuate to Second Eden, and if need be, employ whatever tactics they needed to stall the enemy. Some had employed scorched earth, burning the area to ashes around the aliens. The greatest loss they had suffered was the Babel, their orbital lift capable elevator. The name was homage to the Tower of Babel in old religious texts, no one remembered who gave it the name but it stuck. Once it stretched high into the sky, delivering cargo supplies, people to and from the planet. It was an incredible sight. Modeled after the same orbital elevator based in New Mombasa, it had stood tall since the colony's beginning. Now it was just a dark strip across the land, its length having fallen to the side of its base. A dark mark across on the horizon. They had shattered its orbital station with their mass accelerators, without the station, the tower could not hold itself and soon collapsed.

He shuddered at how many lives were lost when the Babel fell. Officially, Second Eden was the colony's capital, being the center of the UNSC and CDF garrisons. And being the most militarily secure location, but the Babel was the unofficial, true capital of Shanxi. Everything, literally when through the Babel before reaching out to the rest of the planet, the population at the base of the Babel was higher than anywhere else on the planet. And that was where the aliens had struck hardest. They left Second Eden alone as it was a distance from the Babel and its Anti-Air defense grid

Yet for all this information, for all the intel he had gathered, he still did not know how these new aliens fought and so could not fight back. Insurrectionists employed hit-and-run tactics, to counteract them, all forces were on permanent alert and any insurrection attack was met with instantaneous overwhelming force. Against the Old Covenant and its genocidal remnants, they preferred overwhelming force so it was a war of attrition. But these aliens, he still had yet to gain a solid handle on their tactics and methods. He had been told that they had launched large numbers of dropships to many populated areas but had been unable to get any further information, but thankfully Second Eden possessed a small air defense grid along with gunships to defend the air space, augmented by Longsword Fighters and Claymore Bombers. Not to mention the windfall of supplies, troops and support from the now gone cruiser The Right of Way. Much of which he had sent to closest of the population areas to assist in their defenses.

The veritable fleet of M12 LRVs and its variants had been sent around the city itself and outside it: to secure the city, recon the area and search for any trying to reach the city. He had gotten reports of a few contacts with the alien forces in the smaller towns, thankfully, as each group outside the city had one M12G1 LAAV "Gauss Hog" and its main cannon had made short work of any enemy they had encountered. M831 TT "Carriers" and D77H-TCI Pelican Dropships were sent to locations where any number of survivors were found or any settlements where the aliens had yet to arrive. At each of the primary entry points to the city were parked three M808B "Scorpion" MBTs. Yet even with all these supplies, this battle was going to be a tough slog.

An alert beeped and he looked at his tactical datapad attached to his wrist. It was a transmission from Tero city, one the closer and larger cities next to Second Eden. It read. "Unknown presence has landed. Unknown species is hostile, I repeat, Unknown species is hostile. High count of enemy infantry. Enemy command post being established. Starport is lost, repeat starport has been lost. Requesting support." He called over one of his junior officers, a young lieutenant. "Send out Delta and Echo companies to Tero City. Intel says enemy infantry is heaviest there. Deploy gunship squadrons: Seld, Ru and Ter. Reinforce all entrance points to the city with armored support. Prep all dropships and remaining gunships for rapid deployment." Whoever had decided to build Second Eden had the foresight to build it on a defensible area. The high ground of a plateau surrounded by crevices and backed into a mountain. The only two ways to enter Second Eden was through the air, or via one of nine ground bridges that spanned the crevices. 55mm Anti-Air emplacements around the city kept the skies above the city clear, and they had yet to experience any sort of ground assault. "And how will that last?"

"Sir!" The general turned to see a trooper, a sergeant running towards him. What was strange was how this woman had obviously just come off the battlefield. "Sergeant Haley Sundry reporting sir!" She declared standing at attention.

"At ease." With that Haley looked as though she wanted to collapse. "What's going on sergeant? And where did you come from?"

"Sir. Intel on the enemy sir." She hand him a tacpad from her back, along with a single metallic strip that looked like it went around the wrist. "We couldn't get any transmissions out, they fried our transmitters with sort of overload pulse, we manage to get this off of one of their troopers." She said, gesturing to the metal strip. "We think it's their version of the tac-pad. We saw them tapping away it somehow, and it's how they also delivered the overload pulse. I came from Asp."

"With this?" He asked, also referring to the alien device she gave him. Though he did notice the small spikes in the inside area of the strip.

"Yes sir. It's some of hardlight emitter, like the holo-pads. I don't know how it works though."

He nodded. "Excellent job sergeant, but where's the rest of your platoon?" He knew for a fact Asp was the city, well town considering its size, which was closest to the southern bridge passage. Due its proximity it rated at least a platoon's garrison.

"We pulled back sir. They overwhelmed our position with numbers and tactics. It's all on the tacpad." That was not a good sign. If they reached the Asp Bridge, then they would have to start pulling back, abandoning the other settlements and whoever was left behind.

"Well done Sergeant. Get yourself to medical, take a break for now." Before she could protest he added, "You don't have to worry; we have enough troopers to take over for you platoon. You're not going to do anyone any favors going into battle with one foot in the grave.

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." She snapped off a quick salute before heading for Medical. Leaving the General with a tacpad and an alien device in his hands, and wondering just how many they would lose before help arrived.

A comm. officer called out to the General. "Sir, it's the Gadiel Bridge! They're under attack!" And just how long they could hold out.

**Gadiel Bridge: 205th, Armored Division**

"Hold your ground marines, hold your ground!"

"Cover me!"

"All tanks redirect fire to 46 degrees left side! I repeat 45 degrees left side! Focus on that damn tank!"

The troopers of the 205th Armored Division had been deployed to engage enemy armor approaching the bridge. They were one among few tank groups that had been with the now gone cruiser Right of Way. They had been deployed to try and set an outer perimeter outside of the city and clear a path to the closest settlements. Their fight was supposed to have been on open ground. Armored warfare. But the enemy had advanced far faster than any had expected. Even with the modifications and improvements done to technology over the years, armored warfare was still a slow and chaotic affair. The Scorpion M808B MBT(Main Battle Tank) was a sluggish if tough fighter. Anything short of a dedicated air strike would have a difficult time punching through the armor and disabling the tank or killing its driver. They had believed the enemy, unknown though they were, would not reach the bridge until they were well past the bridge and on open ground.

They were wrong.

The moment the last tank in the column had come off the bridge they had come under attack. Rather than ambush the company as they were making their way across the bridge, the enemy had held fire until the last of the five tanks had crossed. Meaning only one thing: they planned on taking this bridge. If the aliens objective had simply been to wipe out their armor, then they would have fired while the tanks were on the bridge, either at the tanks or the bridge itself. Their armor vehicles were more like APCs considering how many of the larger, crested aliens had been disgorged from the vessel. Looking little more than several attached blocks on wheels, its cannons were like dual Gauss cannons. Except far more powerful than anything Humanity possessed on such a small scale. It was capable of penetrating their armor with several shots and taking heavy fire in return: its armor plating a very tough contender. The few Warthogs that had escorted the tanks quickly moved off, taking out whatever infantry they could find, this was a heavy weight fight and they had no part in it.

Company Commander Strife would be damned if he let any of these bastards cross the bridge into New Eden without a fight. "Move forward!" When the tank drivers and the rest of the company started bombarding him with protests and profanities he yelled back; "We can't stay here! We can either move in and fight, or we can fall back over the bridge. We charge, we might win! We fall back, and we risk the lives of everyone in the city." All the radio chatter stopped. He had just reminded them of the cost of failure. If they retreated, the enemy would have easier access to the city. If they fought, they might die, but the time they would buy would give the city the time it needed to bunker down and fortify the entrances to the city.

It was an easy choice.

The tank column charged forward, the M808B MBTs firing their 90mm M522 Smoothbore cannons. "All drivers; pick your targets and fire at will. Spread out. Good luck to you all." With that the tank column splintered, each heading towards their own targets. The enemy armor charged forward, their drivers eager for blood and battle. With that the battle was joined.

Micheal "Mike Mike" Alleverez pushed down on the throttle, forcing out as much speed as he could out of 'Serry' his tank. Bearing down on a mammoth of enemy armor. "Ok ok, let's get it on." Using his neural-net implant to interface with the turret controls he brought the turret around-"Ugh! Sonuva!" He felt the heavy rounds from the enemy armor's dual Gauss cannons slams into the sides of 'Serry'. "Where did that come from?" He yelled.

"Right side! Right side!" His gunner, Stevens Petroki cried out. Right before the air was filled with the noise of a 7.62mm machine gun firing on full auto. "Mike we need to get out of here!" The panic was clear in his voice, "We got these Shellheads coming towards us!"

"Shellheads?" When he interfaced with the turret's camera to get a better view of what his partner was talking about, he saw several humped aliens charging towards the tank, several of them wrapped in a blue ethereal glow, with another of the aliens armored vehicles behind them. One of them tossed a blue sphere towards the tank. It slammed into one of the tank's four track pods. A hissing noise could be heard as pieces of the armor fell off. His display read: 'Track pod 4: experiencing critical damage, please seek immediate refit and repair.'

"Damn it! Stevens take those bastards out! I'll take out that armor!" He tapped a side button, shifting the armor from standard HE, to AP Depleted Uranium sabot rounds. Bringing the aim on one of their armored ground vessels, he opened fire. The sabot round flew through the air, leaving behind its outer casing, leaving only a spike of depleted uranium flying through the air. It impacted the front of one of the alien vehicles. An orange shield shimmered in front, trying to protect the vessel. The round exploded but the shield held. A second later another round struck the shield. Shimmering orange yet again, trying to withstand the force before it, until it shattered in a dazzling display of light and the depleted uranium spike penetrated the armor spearing itself inside, killing the crew and destroying everything inside. "Yeah take that you bastards!"

"Enemy armor on the right!" Before he could move the tank, he was jolted to the sides as another pair of gauss rounds struck the tank, then another. Again his HUD displayed another message, this time it sent a shudder down Mike's spine. 'Warning: Track Pods 2 and 4 have been disabled. Contact for VTOL salvage. Warning: auto-loading system offline.' Before he could think of what to do, his comm. clicked, the voice belonged to his commander.

"Alright everyone displace! Try to get back inside the city! Enemy air support is inbound!" Everyone shuddered at the new intel. In every war since the invention of armored units, enemy air support, had, and is the bane of nearly all armored units, air support often carried enough ordinances to take out entire columns, and too nimble to be struck by tank fire. Their only options in lack of friendly air cover or any sort of anti-air weapons left one option: retreat. Any other action often resulted in death.

"Stevens we got to get out of here!" He tapped the button to open the hatch, getting only a whirring and smell of smoke as his answers. "Damn." This time he slammed the studs to trigger the four small explosive bolts. He braced him for them to blow, but the hatch remained secure: the bolts had failed to fire. "Hey Stevens get me out of here." Getting only silence in return, he called out again. "Stevens!" Wondering why his gunner wasn't answering him or helping, he glanced out through the small windshield between the hatch and the rest of tank. He didn't see much, but he got his answer: Steven's body was slumped over the hatch, least what was left of him. The first of the volley had taken out the auto-loader for the main gun, and Stevens. Somehow only tearing him apart from the waist up, and tossing him onto the hatch. The last shots had taken out the tread pods, effectively crippling the tank. He went to click his comm. Only to stop short as one of crested aliens came into view, climbing onto the tank, and in one swift move, it ripped off the top of the hatch. Before Mike could bring up his side arm, a fist slammed into him, and darkness embraced him.

Shanix: Second Eden Military Command Center: 2345 hours

Bertolodo Williams was at his desk in his private quarters. A bottle of blended scotch and a glass sitting on his desk untouched, a drink meant to be saved for better times. To be shared with others yet abstain from it himself. And Williams was having a hard time to stay the course. His desk was scattered with datapads, along with one of his holo-projectors displaying the names of various settlements from Tero city to a family settlement, next to each was a status display; Occupied, destroyed, besieged, allied, contained, and most disheartening of them: unknown. Another was the status of all, or least the majority of his known assets: munitions, weapons, vehicles, food and fuel supplies, etc… And each had taken a decent hit. Whether it was from expenditure on enemy forces or lost in combat. Literally dozens of units had been lost. Not just military forces but civilian as well. Those who left the cities brought all they could muster. Adding on to what supplies they already had, but it was but a drop in a very large bucket. Casualties list was displayed on the left of the holo-projection. It was still counting the number of WIA, KIA and MIAs. The base's AI, Stricken Fall, was trying to compile a list of all civilians, in the same manner. The moment it had been obvious that though their weapons were more than a match for the aliens, they were outnumbered. Shanix was only a colony and didn't have that much in the way of defense on the ground, relying more on anti-air and orbital defenses.

What held his attention the most however, he held within in his hand. And was the reason why he had taken out the spirit. It was a transmission from one of his officers. "Sir, I've read the casualties lists, we've taken some heavy losses but most of our wounded looks like they are going to pull through. But sir, there's something else. Among the lost was. I am sorry to inform you that your son, was Killed in Action. His squad has recovered his body sir. They reported that he died leading his squad and several civilians they had found. He was the last man onboard the dropship when, according to the reports, he was struck down by sniper fire. His last words have been recorded and delivered along with his dog tags and personal effects sir to your office. I have had his body placed in-" He had long since stopped reading at that point. Though his face remained stoic, unshed tears glistened in his eyes. His body trembled in an effort to maintain control. It was the first in as so many years that he had touched a bottle. The one he possessed as only means of tradition. It had been a long time since he had reached for one since the day of his vow. But the pain in his heart was so great, he sought for any means to relieve it. Even from what he swore to stay away. When he reached for the bottle, his hand stopped, refusing to move forward. Even in his moment of weakness he realized, he couldn't. Though his heart suffered, his strength waned, his will remained resolute. Because he remembered why he made the vow long ago, it rested on his desk within a frame: a photo of his pride, his joy and his soul. His family.


	5. Shanix:New Enemies, New weapons, Old War

Alternate Past Uncertain Future MKII

Thank you to my friend and fellow writer EspionageDB7 as he is known on deviantart. For letting me use a member of his family as the inspiration and core of General Williams. It is my honor, and I truly hope I have done him justice.

Ch 4: Edit

Shanxi: Contact, Conflict, Tragedy

**Day of First Contact**

Brigadier General Bertoldo Williams, despite being at almost 75 years of age, sprinted with the speed of a young recruit to the command center of the Shanxi's Colonial Defense Force Headquarters in the main settlement of Second Eden. He had been alerted the moment several civilian ships are begun making transition from vacuum to atmosphere, all of them screaming about 'another Covenant War' and 'alien invaders.' Marching inside he began yelling out orders, "Someone! Get those civvies to calm down and get down here! I want a debrief from them as soon as we can! Get the Way on the comm. and I want it ten minutes ago! Send out an alert to all settlements, prepare to enact Harvest Rain Protocol!"

Throughout the command center shock was prevalent on the faces of the men and women inside. Harvest Rain was the emergency protocol in the event that they were invaded by a threat potentially on the scale of the old Covenant; total annihilation. It was more of an extra contingency that most expected would never be enacted. Requiring people from many settlements to make their way to Second Eden with all haste. The city, the largest one on the planet, was built directly into a mountain. The mountain itself had been carved by nature so that there was a great cut into the mountain side. Allowing the side to be protected from three directions by the mountains themselves, and the edge of the city provided a great deal of protection itself. Sheer drops existed along the length of the mountain line. Making it so that the only way to reach the city or the carved out mountain side was over a chasm or by air.

"Well come on then! Get out the warning! If we have to evac the civvies I want it done so fast it looks fucking choreographed!" The General's loud voice shook them out of their stupor and began rushing to prepare for the contingency. One of the officers signaled towards him and the main holo display in the center of the room. Soon it began projecting an image of the planet of Shanxi and next to it appeared the face of the Way's captain. ""Right of Way, Right of Way. What the hell is going on out there? I've got civilian ships panicking about a 'New Covenant' and 'invading armies'. Just what the hell did you people find?" Williams knew of the science team, he had made requests that the Relic just be hurled into the sun but those even higher on the chain of command overruled him.

And now, despite the trepidations he felt, he maintained a stoic face. He knew that those around him need a rock, something to place their faith in, and he was that rock. It took all he had not to pale when the captain responded, "Sir, I can't tell you how relived I am to hear your voice. We have encountered a new hostile alien race, I repeat they are hostile. Their guns don't got much punch but they got the numbers sir. I'm leaking atmosphere, got multiple hull breeches and damn sure these guys are not far behind."

Nodding he turned back to his officers. Harvest Rain is now in effect, get the word out! Tell the Defense Platforms to arm up. We got company coming. Recall all troopers on shore leave. All UNSC personal are to report to the nearest command post ASAP and arm up." He turned back to the holodisplay, "Get your ass within the grid Captain. We'll give these bastards a 'Welcome To Shanxi' Gift basket." Williams's had a near feral grin. "I'm ordering the civilians into the bunkers. We're sending a message to HighCom on Earth but don't expect anything for a while. Mind dropping whatever you extra ordinace you got on that boat of yours my way? I think we're going to need it." He knew the hidden message, hoping for the best, but preparing if the situation went seriously FUBAR.

"Understood sir." The captain's image stopped being projected and the display soon focused only on Shanxi. On the holodisplay, red lines began reaching out from the symbols representing each of the ODPs. Each line targeting one vessel each, as the cannons fired, a blue dot disappeared from the TacMp. Despite his surprise at two of the unknown vessels avoiding the shots of the ODPS, he chalked it up to more as luck then skill. Soon the ODPs holographic representations flashed as it marked their firing upon the newly placed red marks at the end of their maximum range. Red lines marked the flight path of their shots. One red mark disappeared from the display than another, the third red line simply continued into the void. Williams smirked, thinking that the platforms would pick off the new aliens before they came even close. Then, things went wrong. The Generals mouth fell open in shock at what happened next. "What?" His reaction was mirrored by all who were watching the TacMp as the unknown vessels disappeared from the TacMp then reappeared. All behind the minimum cones of fire of the ODPs, everyone could only watch in shock as the IFF transponders representing each of the ODPs stopped transmitting as each station was destroyed before they could react. Each station lost was the death hundreds of men and women stationed on them. A Lieutenant watching the TacMp whispered, "Good god…"

Snapping out of his shock, the General started snapping off new orders, "Get on the horn and tell everyone we got incoming, I want all our troops and armor deployed five minutes ago and get the civilians inside the bunkers now! Tell all outer cities and bases to be ready to evac to Second Eden at a moment's notice. Do it now!" He hoped all this would be enough, it was bad enough he didn't know what he was facing, but the fact he had civilians to protect made it all the worse. 'Sun Tzu was right, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." The only question now is, how many will we lose?' And Williams did not look forward to the answer.

**Tero City**

In the city, a group of young men and women, eight in total, were running full tilt down the street towards the local starport. "So," One of them, Terrence Heldin, 'Hood' as he was called by his friends, a joking reference to commander of the UNSC, started, "Any idea why shore leave was cut so early?"

"No idea." Another, a young woman named Katy Geran, answered. She was the go-getter of the group. You need help, or needed something, she'll help you, or at least find you a way to get out of whatever troubles you found yourself in. "But I'm putting my money on Alexei." Pointing her thumb at the one trailing behind them. "Alexei's in trouble with the captain again!" She added in a sing-song voice.

"Oh ha ha ha Katy." Answered Alexei Rasnuv, his voice thick with his Russia Accent despite colonial upbringing. He was the biggest of the group, standing at 6 and half feet or almost 2 meters. If any of them ever need serious help, he was the one they called. Yet despite his rough exterior, was labeled as the 'Group Teddy Bear', hiding a kind soul underneath his rough appearance. They still joked about how they found out about his ability to design wedding dresses. An ability, he blamed, on his older and younger sisters, being the only boy among 5 children. Along with being bullheaded on occasion. "If anything it's probably Maho's fault."

"Me! What did I do?" The youngest of the group, Maho Febeor, was the company wisecrack. He was always making jokes on just about everything: ticking off the other troopers and his superiors as often as he made them laugh. Despite all that, he was a crack-shot. The best of them at least, and possibly the best on the whole planet, claiming the record for longest target shot at multiple miles, hitting a target the size of a playing card. "Oh come on, why is it always my fault?"

"Because it often is." Cris Lee, their resident tech expert. He could've had a full-scholarship and paid trip back to Sol with his choice of any school back on Earth. Instead, he joined the UNSC. He gained immense respect from his fellows after he had demonstrated his tech skills and had hacked into the one of the officer's terminals and exposed his 'discrediting' actions. Particular among the women of the group due to nature of said 'actions'. "You cause more trouble than the rest of us combined. Even Squid."

Squl'de Qurad or 'Squid' as he was known by his friends was among the only half dozen or so of Sangheili on the entire planet. He gained his nickname when he first introduced himself and someone butchered the pronunciation and soon after, the name stuck. Despite that, he found himself in good company in the UNSC, and even better friends. He and several others of his friends from Sanghelios joined the UNSC as a gag. But unlike his other friends, took the duty seriously. And at his request, been reassigned to a Colony planet, due to unlike most others of his race, he was more pacifist in nature than most. Not to say he hated fighting, no his friends, and their bruises, could attest to that. Though due to him being Sangheili had to deal with some Xenophobes, but found his friends, the ones he was traveling with, coming to his defense whenever it occurred. "It is true, small one. You are indeed both a source of trouble and entertainment."

"He is right you know." Serana Ke'dar added. Another Sangheili, she was one of few who had decided to join the military. However, as Sangheili society was still largely patriarchal, it was much easier to join the UNSC then the Spear of Sangheili, the Sangheili Military Forces. "You do cause a lot of trouble. Remember that little trick shot you tried to pull off last week? The one where you took a joyride on a Pelican taking off and tried to snipe the Sergeant's coffee mug?"

"It wasn't even close to his face!" He yelled. "Sure he almost lost a few fingers but he's still fine."

"No. It's something much bigger." The oldest of them, Mich Zao, "I just got off the comm. with my brother. He's says the brass at SecEd is mobilizing everything on the planet." His family had a long line of people with military service; he was just the latest among generations in a military centered family. At everyone's disbelieve he reconfirmed what he said. "Yes, he said that everyone and I mean everyone, including reserves and the local militia has been told to report in. There's been mass deployment and he just received news that a cruiser was going to drop off its entire contingent before heading out."

"A whole cruiser?" Are you serious?" Hood asked. A cruisers full complement of troops, vehicles, munitions and other supplies would enough to arm a colony the size of Shanix twice over. At least. "What the hell would we need all that firepower for?"

"Yes, I am curious as well." Squid added. "I do not-" He stopped. Not just mid-speech but stopped entirely. Noticing this, the others did as well.

"Squid? What are you doing? Come on we got to go."

"Do you not hear it?" He was looking up, searching the skies for something.

"What are you talking about? Come on Squid lets go." At this point Alexei tried to pull on his friend's shoulder when the Sangheili stopped him and snarled.

"Stop and listen! Do you not hear it!" This time, the entire group stopped, along with most of the street. Slowly but surely, there was a low thrumming noise that, as they listened, became louder.

"What is that? Is that a Pelican or an Osprey?" Cris asked. "Or is one of your ships Squid?"

"Well it's not human. Human ships are louder, and I would recognize any of them." Mich said. He worked with the Navy boys and the mechanics in his spare time.

"And it is not of Sangheili origin either." Serana added. "I do not hear the workings of an anti-grav generator." That meant it was not any of the insurrectionists or Instruments. Nor Kig-Yar pirates or Unggoy mercenaries.

"Then what is it?" They kept searching, as the sounds got louder and more widespread. "Well whatever it is, it's getting closer. And a lot of them by the sound of it." Hood said. The clouds grew darker, a shadow appeared in the skies. First one then two, and another, soon the skies were filled with shadows: the silhouettes of whatever cast them, and numbered in the dozens. They soon got their answer. Dropships, scores of them came out from the skies. But design not seen before; some were triangular, the three sided-shape possessing a heavy influence in their designs, while the others were little more than flying boxes. "They're landing in the Temura Square. Come on; let's see what's going on." The others agreed and began moving, the square was in the same general direction as the starport, but they still needed to make several detours to reach the square. By the time they arrived, several of the unknowns ships had landed, forming a defensive circle. But as of yet, none had disembarked.

"What's going on?" The local police forces had arrived long before and had taken positions around the circle and were in the process of ushering civilians away. "Hey, you kids!" They turned to see a SWAT officer, decked out in full armor and carrying an M-96 Combat Shotgun across his back approaching them. "What are you doing? Get out of here and go back to your homes until we sort this all out."

"We're UNSC, we came to see if we could help." Katy told the officer.

"All of you?" The officer raised a brow in suspicion, even those two? Refering to the Sangheili pair with them. "Thought Sangs weren't allowed in the UNSC. Speaking of which, if you are, you know what's going on?"

"We don't know either. Just that everyone's been called back to base. They're mobilizing but what for we don't know."

The officer nodded. "Right in that case, you better get to the starport. Heard all the military-" He stopped at hearing the whirring of gears. The doors to the ships began to open. "Alright people, party's starting. Hold your fire until I say so." From the angular vessels tall, lean creatures stepped out, carrying weapons of unseen design: sleeker and smoother than most, comparable to weapons of the Sangheili. They possessed avian features, their skin shined slightly in the sun. Speaking in clicks and chirps. From the others, taller, muscular reptilian creatures stepped forth. Possessing large crests on their heads, like the dinosaurs of old, their skin scaly like so. Possessing large humps, and their features grim and filled with rage and bloodlust. Their snarls and grunts filling the people around the square with fear. And their weapons, designed not with sleek and grace, but rather power and brutality.

"Squid. Cris. You guys recognize these guys? What are they?" Maho asked.

"I do not know. Never in our history have the people of Sangheilios ever encountered such creatures. Though I relish the opportunity to fight the ones with the scaled heads." Serana answered.

"Never saw anything in the Forerunner databases either. Least not what's been uncovered so far." Cris added. Though Humanity as the 'Reclaimers' as labeled by the Monitors of the Forerunner installations that had been discovered, were granted access to most of the services within each installation, their access was largely limited still.

The tension was so stiff in the air; it could be cut with a dull knife. The SWAT officer stepped forward. His shotgun still slung across his back, but his hand resting on the M7-C series Magnum pistol sidearm. "Greetings I am Officer Samuel Uras. And I welcome you to Shanix."

"What the hell is he doing?" The others agreed with the shock in his voice. To them, and many others, it appeared to be suicide.

"He's trying to be diplomatic. What I'm wondering is, why is he doing this? Shouldn't it be a politician there?"

Along the square however, the various officers and SWAT members were getting nervous. The larger creatures were spreading out, as were their more avian fellows. Their weapons raised, and their speech, though they could not understand it, even those with Universal translator implants, sounded threatening and their grips on their weapons tightened.

One of the aliens, the more avian species stepped forth. This one possessed matte black armor, the obvious leader of the group, approaching the SWAT officer. It spoke in clicks and chirps like the others of its species, none of which the officer understood, but thankful was holding its odd rifle in a nonthreatening manner.

Nearby, one of the reptilian aliens had begun to argue with one of the avian aliens, and if their actions were any indication, understood one another. One of them was waving their gun around, while the other was obviously trying to calm them down. The people only got ever more fearful, and one of the new guys on the force had his finger close to the trigger.

The officer and the alien seemed to be trying to communicate but failing. The officer was trying to gesture for the alien to follow him while said alien was trying to get the officer to hand over, if what it was pointing at was any indicator, the officer's shotgun. When the alien made to grab the officer, he stepped back, and raised his hand. "Whoa. Hold it there. Now we don't understand each other but I'm not too keen on being that friendly yet." His one sniper unit clicked his comm.

"Sir, should we open fire."

"Negative. Hold your fire. So far they've done nothing."

"Alright sir but I,-Watch out!" The sniper had noticed one of the larger aliens approach his superior weapon in hand. The sniper didn't even think. He just trained his crosshair on the alien's cranium and pulled the trigger.

The alien's crest did not slow down the 14.5 by 114mm Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot round at all. Piercing through the alien's head cleanly, the report of the sniper rifle echoes through the square. And then, silence.

Then everyone began opening fire. The alien that had approached the officer began to raise its rifle and pulled the trigger. However Uras had already begun moving after the first shot, pulling his pistol as he went. When the alien opened fire, the rounds struck nothing but air. Uras fired his pistol once; an orange barrier shimmered as it was struck by the 12.7mm HE round. Uras fired again, twice, three times, until the barrier shattered and fired a fifth round, striking the alien in the head, crumpling as it fell. Around him though, his subordinates were not having the same luck as he did. Some were destroyed by the crested aliens' immense weapons, tearing their bodies apart in a single blast, while others were picked off by concentrated and controlled fire from the avian aliens' rifles. Some fell riddled with bullets, others seemed to catch fire. Others, parts of their body snapped-froze on impact with the alien munitions, some were unlucky enough to have limbs shattered from the unknown rounds then successive fire. The unlucky few were simply rammed by the crested alien; charging forward, taking fire head on: charging through a group of officers, the luckiest getting away with a broken limb, the worst been smashed into a nearby wall. The aliens were also taking casualties; their one sniper kept picking off whoever was unlucky enough to be caught out in the open, remaining unscathed in his post several hundred yards away, spraying brain matter and bodies all over the square. While others were taken down by concentrated fire either by 12.7mm magnum fire or from 7.62mm rounds from the few other SWAT officers' old MA5 Series rifles. The crested aliens fell after a barrage of weapon's fire, their bodies gained several dozen kilos in bullets, falling mere meters from the officers' feet. Those who tested and proven themselves on the firing range proved their skills in combat, taking out the avian aliens with precision fire from cover. One shot, two shots, three and four, dropping shields, severing limbs and destroying weapons and popping heads with precision fire. It was hell, it was bloody, and for some it was glorious. But for the officers, it was simply duty. And that duty was to protect the civilians.

While the majority fought, the few who didn't, rather than cower as most would assume, presented their backs to the aliens. They were directing civilians away from the square and towards evacuation stations, making themselves easy targets. But more than a few of the aliens opened fire on the crowd, or at least tried too. Officers and a few other brave souls who saw the aliens aiming towards them, turned themselves into living shields, taking as many rounds as they could before they fell, most who attempted to aim at the crowed were obliterated by concentrated fire before they could pull the trigger.

On the side of the aliens, any wounded in between the two sides found themselves saved by their comrades more often than not. More than a few charged out into the lines of fire, risking themselves to save the wounded. Spraying rounds without regard, just to create an opening to retrieve their injured fellow.

The group of eight had taken cover behind some cars the moment the first shot was fired. "Shit! Well now we know they're hostiles." Maho yelled. The others agreed. "So anyone got a plan?" Suggestions were made by most to either head for the starport or head to the police station and get some arms, the former taking majority. Of the group though, Cris wasn't paying attention but rather looking towards the firefight, specifically at the aliens' weapons.

"Interesting," He noticed how the weapons did not eject any sort of shell casings as they fired so they were not conventional projectile weaponry like those employed by the UNSC, neither were they energy weapons: their projectiles, when they struck, did not cause a burning effect like plasma based weapons tech did. However when fired too often, the shooter had to stop as heated air blasted out the sides of the weapon. "Hmm."

Someone grabbed his shoulder, acting on instinct; he spun moving to strike when he recognized Katy. "Cris, come on let's go." He nodded; the eight of them couldn't do anything to help the police who were being overwhelmed. They had to leave and link up with the command at Second Eden. Failing that, get whatever intel they could back to them. But as he looked over his shoulder, taking one last look at the carnage behind him, he muttered, "This will be but one battle of another great war."

**Second Eden: Military Command Center**

The General stood motionless, even as his officers ran around him, getting and delivering status reports, troop deployments, and casualties list and so on. All his attention was on the Tactical Map display in front of him, his features grim. Shanxi was a comparatively unique colony, in how it built itself. It was the first new colony since the end of the Wars. Until Shanxi all efforts had been on reclamation and terraforming on planets lost. Shanxi had been a new one and implemented the new regulations when it came to colonial construction. Second Eden had been built with the idea of a fortress in mind. A last bastion of defense or a safe haven in case of invasion, streets were designed to enhance asymmetrical warfare by the defenders, integrated deployable roadblocks had been installed in the roads themselves, bunker entrances for civilians were scattered throughout the city. And that was only the city itself.

Outside another series of explosions dotted the skies as enemy aircraft were shot down by Second Eden's powerful defense grid, their remains scattered across the city. On rooftops and specifically designated buildings Anti-Air craft systems of all types ranging from missiles to Gatling guns and autocannons and Onager Mass Drivers protected the skies. An alien corvette pair had learned the hard way that the city would not fall easily. The city possessed a grand total of three Onager Mass Driver cannons, each one could be remotely or manually piloted and right now, their controllers had already drawn up an impressive killstreak. Two corvettes had attempted to subjugate the city from above but the Onagers 'dissuaded' their captains from trying after a few Onager shots. One had made it outside the atmosphere pulling straight up the moment the AA-Grid began to pummel it, its companion had not been so lucky. Whether the captain simply panicked or not was unknown but the second corvette attempted to flee away from the city but stayed in atmosphere. It had started trailing smoke and fire as it left the effective range of most the defense grid. Then, in an incredible display of marksmen ship, one of the Onager gunners aimed his cannon just over the ship and fired. The 15cm slug cored, literally cored one of the engines. The slug traveled from the top and through the bottom taking a mass of metal, and wire with it. The remaining engine flared brightly but with one engine, it could not defy Sir Isaac Newton. It crashed into the planet, its nosed crumpled from the impact, sliding across the dirt. Cheers hadn't even started before the wreck detonated in a bright blue flame, creating a crater some times the size of the ship itself. Even now after so many hours the wreck still burned. But that was just one victory, to so many losses.

Within hours they had begun to lose the outer towns then the cities, Williams had ordered for everyone who could to evacuate to Second Eden, and if need be, employ whatever tactics they needed to stall the enemy. Some had employed scorched earth, burning the area to ashes around the aliens. The greatest loss they had suffered was the Babel, their orbital lift capable elevator. The name was homage to the Tower of Babel in old religious texts, no one remembered who gave it the name but it stuck. Once it stretched high into the sky, delivering cargo supplies, people to and from the planet. It was an incredible sight. Modeled after the same orbital elevator based in New Mombasa, it had stood tall since the colony's beginning. Now it was just a dark strip across the land, its length having fallen to the side of its base. A dark mark across on the horizon. They had shattered its orbital station with their mass accelerators, without the station, the tower could not hold itself and soon collapsed.

He shuddered at how many lives were lost when the Babel fell. Officially, Second Eden was the colony's capital, being the center of the UNSC and CDF garrisons. And being the most militarily secure location, but the Babel was the unofficial, true capital of Shanxi. Everything, literally when through the Babel before reaching out to the rest of the planet, the population at the base of the Babel was higher than anywhere else on the planet. And that was where the aliens had struck hardest. They left Second Eden alone as it was a distance from the Babel and its Anti-Air defense grid

Yet for all this information, for all the intel he had gathered, he still did not know how these new aliens fought and so could not fight back. Insurrectionists employed hit-and-run tactics, to counteract them, all forces were on permanent alert and any insurrection attack was met with instantaneous overwhelming force. Against the Old Covenant and its genocidal remnants, they preferred overwhelming force so it was a war of attrition. But these aliens, he still had yet to gain a solid handle on their tactics and methods. He had been told that they had launched large numbers of dropships to many populated areas but had been unable to get any further information, but thankfully Second Eden possessed a small air defense grid along with gunships to defend the air space, augmented by Longsword Fighters and Claymore Bombers. Not to mention the windfall of supplies, troops and support from the now gone cruiser The Right of Way. Much of which he had sent to closest of the population areas to assist in their defenses.

The veritable fleet of M12 LRVs and its variants had been sent around the city itself and outside it: to secure the city, recon the area and search for any trying to reach the city. He had gotten reports of a few contacts with the alien forces in the smaller towns, thankfully, as each group outside the city had one M12G1 LAAV "Gauss Hog" and its main cannon had made short work of any enemy they had encountered. M831 TT "Carriers" and D77H-TCI Pelican Dropships were sent to locations where any number of survivors were found or any settlements where the aliens had yet to arrive. At each of the primary entry points to the city were parked three M808B "Scorpion" MBTs. Yet even with all these supplies, this battle was going to be a tough slog.

An alert beeped and he looked at his tactical datapad attached to his wrist. It was a transmission from Tero city, one the closer and larger cities next to Second Eden. It read. "Unknown presence has landed. Unknown species is hostile, I repeat, Unknown species is hostile. High count of enemy infantry. Enemy command post being established. Starport is lost, repeat starport has been lost. Requesting support." He called over one of his junior officers, a young lieutenant. "Send out Delta and Echo companies to Tero City. Intel says enemy infantry is heaviest there. Deploy gunship squadrons: Seld, Ru and Ter. Reinforce all entrance points to the city with armored support. Prep all dropships and remaining gunships for rapid deployment." Whoever had decided to build Second Eden had the foresight to build it on a defensible area. The high ground of a plateau surrounded by crevices and backed into a mountain. The only two ways to enter Second Eden was through the air, or via one of nine ground bridges that spanned the crevices. 55mm Anti-Air emplacements around the city kept the skies above the city clear, and they had yet to experience any sort of ground assault. "And how will that last?"

"Sir!" The general turned to see a trooper, a sergeant running towards him. What was strange was how this woman had obviously just come off the battlefield. "Sergeant Haley Sundry reporting sir!" She declared standing at attention.

"At ease." With that Haley looked as though she wanted to collapse. "What's going on sergeant? And where did you come from?"

"Sir. Intel on the enemy sir." She hand him a tacpad from her back, along with a single metallic strip that looked like it went around the wrist. "We couldn't get any transmissions out, they fried our transmitters with sort of overload pulse, we manage to get this off of one of their troopers." She said, gesturing to the metal strip. "We think it's their version of the tac-pad. We saw them tapping away it somehow, and it's how they also delivered the overload pulse. I came from Asp."

"With this?" He asked, also referring to the alien device she gave him. Though he did notice the small spikes in the inside area of the strip.

"Yes sir. It's some of hardlight emitter, like the holo-pads. I don't know how it works though."

He nodded. "Excellent job sergeant, but where's the rest of your platoon?" He knew for a fact Asp was the city, well town considering its size, which was closest to the southern bridge passage. Due its proximity it rated at least a platoon's garrison.

"We pulled back sir. They overwhelmed our position with numbers and tactics. It's all on the tacpad." That was not a good sign. If they reached the Asp Bridge, then they would have to start pulling back, abandoning the other settlements and whoever was left behind.

"Well done Sergeant. Get yourself to medical, take a break for now." Before she could protest he added, "You don't have to worry; we have enough troopers to take over for you platoon. You're not going to do anyone any favors going into battle with one foot in the grave.

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." She snapped off a quick salute before heading for Medical. Leaving the General with a tacpad and an alien device in his hands, and wondering just how many they would lose before help arrived.

A comm. officer called out to the General. "Sir, it's the Gadiel Bridge! They're under attack!" And just how long they could hold out.

**Gadiel Bridge: 205th, Armored Division**

"Hold your ground marines, hold your ground!"

"Cover me!"

"All tanks redirect fire to 46 degrees left side! I repeat 45 degrees left side! Focus on that damn tank!"

The troopers of the 205th Armored Division had been deployed to engage enemy armor approaching the bridge. They were one among few tank groups that had been with the now gone cruiser Right of Way. They had been deployed to try and set an outer perimeter outside of the city and clear a path to the closest settlements. Their fight was supposed to have been on open ground. Armored warfare. But the enemy had advanced far faster than any had expected. Even with the modifications and improvements done to technology over the years, armored warfare was still a slow and chaotic affair. The Scorpion M808B MBT(Main Battle Tank) was a sluggish if tough fighter. Anything short of a dedicated air strike would have a difficult time punching through the armor and disabling the tank or killing its driver. They had believed the enemy, unknown though they were, would not reach the bridge until they were well past the bridge and on open ground.

They were wrong.

The moment the last tank in the column had come off the bridge they had come under attack. Rather than ambush the company as they were making their way across the bridge, the enemy had held fire until the last of the five tanks had crossed. Meaning only one thing: they planned on taking this bridge. If the aliens objective had simply been to wipe out their armor, then they would have fired while the tanks were on the bridge, either at the tanks or the bridge itself. Their armor vehicles were more like APCs considering how many of the larger, crested aliens had been disgorged from the vessel. Looking little more than several attached blocks on wheels, its cannons were like dual Gauss cannons. Except far more powerful than anything Humanity possessed on such a small scale. It was capable of penetrating their armor with several shots and taking heavy fire in return: its armor plating a very tough contender. The few Warthogs that had escorted the tanks quickly moved off, taking out whatever infantry they could find, this was a heavy weight fight and they had no part in it.

Company Commander Strife would be damned if he let any of these bastards cross the bridge into New Eden without a fight. "Move forward!" When the tank drivers and the rest of the company started bombarding him with protests and profanities he yelled back; "We can't stay here! We can either move in and fight, or we can fall back over the bridge. We charge, we might win! We fall back, and we risk the lives of everyone in the city." All the radio chatter stopped. He had just reminded them of the cost of failure. If they retreated, the enemy would have easier access to the city. If they fought, they might die, but the time they would buy would give the city the time it needed to bunker down and fortify the entrances to the city.

It was an easy choice.

The tank column charged forward, the M808B MBTs firing their 90mm M522 Smoothbore cannons. "All drivers; pick your targets and fire at will. Spread out. Good luck to you all." With that the tank column splintered, each heading towards their own targets. The enemy armor charged forward, their drivers eager for blood and battle. With that the battle was joined.

Micheal "Mike Mike" Alleverez pushed down on the throttle, forcing out as much speed as he could out of 'Serry' his tank. Bearing down on a mammoth of enemy armor. "Ok ok, let's get it on." Using his neural-net implant to interface with the turret controls he brought the turret around-"Ugh! Sonuva!" He felt the heavy rounds from the enemy armor's dual Gauss cannons slams into the sides of 'Serry'. "Where did that come from?" He yelled.

"Right side! Right side!" His gunner, Stevens Petroki cried out. Right before the air was filled with the noise of a 7.62mm machine gun firing on full auto. "Mike we need to get out of here!" The panic was clear in his voice, "We got these Shellheads coming towards us!"

"Shellheads?" When he interfaced with the turret's camera to get a better view of what his partner was talking about, he saw several humped aliens charging towards the tank, several of them wrapped in a blue ethereal glow, with another of the aliens armored vehicles behind them. One of them tossed a blue sphere towards the tank. It slammed into one of the tank's four track pods. A hissing noise could be heard as pieces of the armor fell off. His display read: 'Track pod 4: experiencing critical damage, please seek immediate refit and repair.'

"Damn it! Stevens take those bastards out! I'll take out that armor!" He tapped a side button, shifting the armor from standard HE, to AP Depleted Uranium sabot rounds. Bringing the aim on one of their armored ground vessels, he opened fire. The sabot round flew through the air, leaving behind its outer casing, leaving only a spike of depleted uranium flying through the air. It impacted the front of one of the alien vehicles. An orange shield shimmered in front, trying to protect the vessel. The round exploded but the shield held. A second later another round struck the shield. Shimmering orange yet again, trying to withstand the force before it, until it shattered in a dazzling display of light and the depleted uranium spike penetrated the armor spearing itself inside, killing the crew and destroying everything inside. "Yeah take that you bastards!"

"Enemy armor on the right!" Before he could move the tank, he was jolted to the sides as another pair of gauss rounds struck the tank, then another. Again his HUD displayed another message, this time it sent a shudder down Mike's spine. 'Warning: Track Pods 2 and 4 have been disabled. Contact for VTOL salvage. Warning: auto-loading system offline.' Before he could think of what to do, his comm. clicked, the voice belonged to his commander.

"Alright everyone displace! Try to get back inside the city! Enemy air support is inbound!" Everyone shuddered at the new intel. In every war since the invention of armored units, enemy air support, had, and is the bane of nearly all armored units, air support often carried enough ordinances to take out entire columns, and too nimble to be struck by tank fire. Their only options in lack of friendly air cover or any sort of anti-air weapons left one option: retreat. Any other action often resulted in death.

"Stevens we got to get out of here!" He tapped the button to open the hatch, getting only a whirring and smell of smoke as his answers. "Damn." This time he slammed the studs to trigger the four small explosive bolts. He braced him for them to blow, but the hatch remained secure: the bolts had failed to fire. "Hey Stevens get me out of here." Getting only silence in return, he called out again. "Stevens!" Wondering why his gunner wasn't answering him or helping, he glanced out through the small windshield between the hatch and the rest of tank. He didn't see much, but he got his answer: Steven's body was slumped over the hatch, least what was left of him. The first of the volley had taken out the auto-loader for the main gun, and Stevens. Somehow only tearing him apart from the waist up, and tossing him onto the hatch. The last shots had taken out the tread pods, effectively crippling the tank. He went to click his comm. Only to stop short as one of crested aliens came into view, climbing onto the tank, and in one swift move, it ripped off the top of the hatch. Before Mike could bring up his side arm, a fist slammed into him, and darkness embraced him.

Shanix: Second Eden Military Command Center: 2345 hours

Bertolodo Williams was at his desk in his private quarters. A bottle of blended scotch and a glass sitting on his desk untouched, a drink meant to be saved for better times. To be shared with others yet abstain from it himself. And Williams was having a hard time to stay the course. His desk was scattered with datapads, along with one of his holo-projectors displaying the names of various settlements from Tero city to a family settlement, next to each was a status display; Occupied, destroyed, besieged, allied, contained, and most disheartening of them: unknown. Another was the status of all, or least the majority of his known assets: munitions, weapons, vehicles, food and fuel supplies, etc… And each had taken a decent hit. Whether it was from expenditure on enemy forces or lost in combat. Literally dozens of units had been lost. Not just military forces but civilian as well. Those who left the cities brought all they could muster. Adding on to what supplies they already had, but it was but a drop in a very large bucket. Casualties list was displayed on the left of the holo-projection. It was still counting the number of WIA, KIA and MIAs. The base's AI, Stricken Fall, was trying to compile a list of all civilians, in the same manner. The moment it had been obvious that though their weapons were more than a match for the aliens, they were outnumbered. Shanix was only a colony and didn't have that much in the way of defense on the ground, relying more on anti-air and orbital defenses.

What held his attention the most however, he held within in his hand. And was the reason why he had taken out the spirit. It was a transmission from one of his officers. "Sir, I've read the casualties lists, we've taken some heavy losses but most of our wounded looks like they are going to pull through. But sir, there's something else. Among the lost was. I am sorry to inform you that your son, was Killed in Action. His squad has recovered his body sir. They reported that he died leading his squad and several civilians they had found. He was the last man onboard the dropship when, according to the reports, he was struck down by sniper fire. His last words have been recorded and delivered along with his dog tags and personal effects sir to your office. I have had his body placed in-" He had long since stopped reading at that point. Though his face remained stoic, unshed tears glistened in his eyes. His body trembled in an effort to maintain control. It was the first in as so many years that he had touched a bottle. The one he possessed as only means of tradition. It had been a long time since he had reached for one since the day of his vow. But the pain in his heart was so great, he sought for any means to relieve it. Even from what he swore to stay away. When he reached for the bottle, his hand stopped, refusing to move forward. Even in his moment of weakness he realized, he couldn't. Though his heart suffered, his strength waned, his will remained resolute. Because he remembered why he made the vow long ago, it rested on his desk within a frame: a photo of his pride, his joy and his soul. His family.


	6. Shanxi: Hell

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mark II

Edited. Version 2.1

A/N: someone please check my math here later in the chapter. I did this edit as I was traveling on the road so…Yeah.

Posted:8/16/2013

Ch. 6 Shanix: Finale

"As it ends, so it begins."

7 Days since First Contact

"Do it! Finish it!" Killian roared at the Shellhead, defiant until the end. The corners of the Shellhead's mouth turned up into a smirk. Rumbling something in its Native tongue, it raised its massive shotgun and pointed towards the Lieutenant.

Just as the alien started to pull down on the trigger, a boom sounded, then another, and another. Soon the air was filled with the sounds of thunder. Looking up, streaks of fire rained across the sky and landed in the city. To the alien, it looked as though missiles were falling from the skies, to the marine, it was obvious what they were as he and every other human soldier who saw or heard them come through the skies knew what they were: reinforcements.

Thousands of Single Occupant Entry/Insertion Vehicle Drop-pods rained across the war torn city of Second Eden; some crashing into buildings, others into streets and some directly into a firefight. But every single Human being who heard the sonic boom of the pods, or saw the streaks of fire came down let out a cheer that shook the planet: The ODSTs were here, and it was payback time.

**The Skies above Second Eden**

A flight of GA-TL1 Longsword Fighters peeled off from the other fighters escorting dropships down to the city.

"All call signs report in. Raptor Lead reporting in."

"Raptor 2-1 standing by."

"Raptor 2-2, on station."

"Raptor 2-3, on station and ready to bring the pain!"

"Raptor 2-4 here, and ready to muzzle 2-3's big mouth. Ma'am."

Captain Genesis Amari, commander of Raptor Flight, an all-female ace squadron, chuckled to herself. "Alright girls, we got a job to do here. These alien bastards seem to think the air above Shanxi belong to them. These sons of bitches have hit this colony and to them I say this: Let's show them why they call Raptor Flight "The Valkyries of the UNSC!" Each Longsword pilot slammed the accelerator on their fighters, bringing their speeds to well past Mach 6, their weapons primed and ready. Both machine and man desired blood, and together they flashed forward in search of war.

**High Orbit above Second Eden**

On board a UNSC Heavy Cruiser, Say My Name, only one thing was on the minds of the crew: rage: Pure and utter rage. They had seen the enemy take down the light-cruiser Peace of Mind, concentrating their fire on the starboard side. A lucky one in a thousand shot striking an armed Archer Missile pod just as the missiles were about to fire. It set off a chain reaction that ripped through the ship despite the honey-combed structure, reaching more ammunition storage areas before finally reaching the reactor and destroying it from all sides. And he be would be damned before he would let another one fall to the alien upstarts. The heavy frigate and destroyer pair, Terra's Shield and Terra's Sword tumbled in space for a few moments as the detonation, brief as it was, splashed over the pair's shields and shook the hull.

Several of the invaders ships began moving in on the pair, seeing the moment of weakness and seizing advantage of the stricken vessels. "Target their frigates; I want 50 missiles for every single damn frigate we can get at! Get our autocannons targeting their corvettes; I want those damn things gone like the damn Heretics!" Captain Cid Eldred ordered. "Someone get me a firing solution on one of their cruisers; get Harrdrn on the horn, I want a clear line of sight between my cruiser and those bastards!"

"Aye aye!" Raging Horse, the Say My Name's ship AI, taking on the image of an Apache war chief, donned in full traditional Apache war dress. "These intruders have spilled the blood of our kin, now it is our time to spill theirs." The Apache Native styled AI thumped his chest once before his avatar faded from the display.

'Damn, this is turning into one big cluster fuck.' The captain though as he watched the battle from his bridge. The space above Shanxi was pure hell: autocannon fire and flying missiles traded positions with the aliens' own missiles and mass accelerator rounds. Because of the close quarters forced upon them by the alien cruisers closing the distance before they could be destroyed by MAC rounds, the UNSC ships were forced to rely solely on their point-defense systems and secondary armaments. It was a style of space-based combat no one in the UNSC Navy was prepared for. For the majority of all major space battles since the beginning of the Great War, had been at great distances were both sides could rely on their primary, bow mounted armaments. As opposed to just broadsiding the enemy like the ocean-based galleons of old earth.

With the loss of one of their cruisers already it was a blow to the morale of some of the crew. The majority of them were only recent academy graduates. Very few, like the captain, who had been an ensign himself, were veterans. He himself had served aboard a Charon-class frigate, the Hail the Dawn during the Human-Covenant war, facing against overwhelming odds and to see one of their mightiest ships be taken down so quickly after the beginning of an engagement was nothing unusual among the veterans. For the young, inexperienced and new crewmen and women, it was a shocking and near-unfathomable idea. Growing up during a time when humanity was seen as nigh invincible, death and loss had never even touched their minds. Noticing this, the captain sighed before drawing in a breath, his chest puffing up as he did so. "Wake up you maggots!" The bridge crew jumped in their stations and their captain's voice. "You think this is bad, you ain't seen anything yet! They have brought down one of ships, taken how many lives were on her, and now it's time to do the same a hundredfold!" There was no roar from the crew, there was no cheer, but one wasn't needed. "You are the best of humanity! We are the UNSC Navy! And now is the time to show these aliens why humanity is a galactic superpower!" As though the guns answered for them all. The dual H-Class MACs fired noiselessly in space, the technology battle-tested on retrofitted Halcyon(Grade-I) cruiser, the Pillar of Autumn engaged. Magnetic energy capture fields regaining the energy that would have been lost in the firing of the first barrage being recaptured and fed back into the MAC. There was a slight tremor on the bridge as a triple barrage of MACs rounds traveled at a fraction of the speed of light, streaking towards their target. Spearing through the front of the targeted enemy cruiser-analogue upon impact, travelling down it's length, before gouging a massive exist out the back and passing clean through, the alien cruiser-analogue shattering from the impact. The rounds themselves impacting against the Era of Retaliation after gouging their way through, creating the barest of shudder in her shields.*

At the same time The Say My Name's autocannons opened fire, on both her broadsides, spooling up the rotating barrels to allow the highest possible rate of fire. An enemy frigate-weight/class ship was the first unlucky target. The ship's nacelles flaring white-blue as it attempted to get out of the cannons' line of fire. An effort too little, too late; 88mm shells blasted the shields apart under an endless salvo. When they fractured, the guns only fired even faster. The rounds ripping through the enemy's hull, shredding everything to pieces. At the end, all that was left was floating shards. The ship been so thoroughly annihilated, the reactor had not even overloaded. All of the cruiser's escaped, by the luck of not being inside the autocannons' cone of fire.

On the bridge, Raging Horse reappeared on the dais, the AI gestured the captain over to the tactical display. "I've got something." His hologram moved as if to tap the display, changing to show a cleared picture of the position of all the ships. "When we took out that cruiser, the cruiser was targeting one of our frigates." A line of sight was projected from the alien vessel, lining up with the heavy-frigate, which had presented its stern towards it.

"What are you saying?"

"I am suggesting rather than try and take the enemy head on, we focus on protecting our own ships." With that, more lines of sight appears on the screen, from both UNSC and the alien ships. "Projections show that this will be a far more effective strategy as it will allow us to preserve other vessels and at the same time, allow us to use our full instead of only our secondary armaments."

The captain had to agree with the AI's assessment. The enemy cruiser-weigh/class vessel they had destroyed had been targeting one of their frigates, specifically the bridge area. Whether by luck or design it hadn't mattered. Had the MAC round fired only so much later, the frigate, The Guardian, would have been crippled by losing its bridge.

"Alert the Admiral. Send this tactical data to all the ships. Let's finish off the rest of these bastards."

**SOEIV Drop Pod: Alpha L9-2A**

Special Operations Trooper Callsign Phoenix watched as the majority of the other drop pods descended below him towards Second Eden. Watching them for a few moments, he began punching in new coordinates and shifted his drop pods towards Tero City. Engaging the smoke projectors and opening up the secondary fuel lines, further igniting the outside of the pod. A moment later deploying flares. In the chaos of the battle in orbit and arrival of the ODSTs no one on the ground paid any real attention to the single pod that seemingly malfunctioned and began moving away from the rest.

Phoenix though knew his role. Having been briefed by the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence Section III herself: Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky.

**Earth: London: ONI Sec. III Headquarters: Office of Parangonsky**

"You called for me ma'am?" Despite his cool demeanor, inside he was terrified. Few every had direct contact with the Head of Section III and lived to tell about it. Despite this being his third time inside the admiral's office, a record among the non-Admiralty, it was no less nerve wracking.

"Ah yes, callsign Phoenix. You are the man correct?"

It may have come like a question but the Special Operations Agent knew better. It was more or less a test, as common rumor went that only one man had ever crossed the Admiral and lived.

"Yes ma'am."

Satisfied she nodded, "As I'm sure rumors have spread around, First Contact has been made yet again on Shanxi."

The trooper's eyes widen. 'First Contact! Again!' He had been too fight in the Human-Covenant War or the immediately thereafter, Heretic Wars. But had seen action in all the conflict Humanity had found itself in thereafter. And his skills had attracted the attention of ONI Section II. And later Section III.

"We have an, asset of considerable value at Shanxi. And is currently behind enemy lines of these, 'invaders'. This asset cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands. It is doubtful that they would ever realize the value of what they now possess but still, we cannot take that risk. Your mission is twofold: ensure extraction of the asset from the planet by any means possible and target any potential enemy HVTs(High Value Targets.) Your ship leaves in a few hours. Dismissed."

** SOEIV Drop Pod: Alpha L9-2A**

"Landfall in 10 seconds."

Phoenix was shaken from the memory and braced his body for the landing. Despite all the advances made to drop pod, it was a still a jarring and potentially lethal experience. Even so long after the Wars, the ODST Division was still an all-volunteer outfit.

"Engage secondary thrusters, 30 degree turn. On my mark. Mark." The drop pod shook hard as the secondary set of thrusters on his modified drop pod engaged. Turn it away from the front lines and towards the outskirts of Tero City.

**APUFMKII**

**SOEIV #1445262**

ODST Trooper Heller, Maks. Private: First Class. Jester Squad

Current Location: 30,000 meters above Second Eden and dropping

Private Maks held on to the handles of his Single Occupant Exo-atmospheric Insertion Vehicle. Listening to the pod shake it and thousands of others like his, were dropped from low orbit, now heading towards the planet at, or rapidly approaching, terminal velocity: the maximum speed a falling object will every attain by gravity alone while falling. He heard a faint click as his helmet radio engaged. The voice coming over belonging to the Colonel.

"Listen up Marines! We are currently dropping into the nice and pleasant city of Second Eden. This is not a just another combat drop people! We are dropping right onto of enemy positions into the heart of a civilian locale. Our primary objective is to defend the civilians. You find any, get them to a safe zone ASAP! Secondary objectives are to take out any and all unknowns! We are not to allow anything that isn't human or at the very least familiar stay inside this damn city! SOP for any surrendering unknowns. Good luck." The comm. didn't shut off as the colonel finished. One of the other ODSTs hacked the comm. network and soon, music began blaring through the network. Maks recognized it as something from the 21st century.

Soon enough though, the music cut out as the clouds began to appear before they breached the cloud layer. The colonel's voice came over the comm. again. "All pods, prepare for course correction on my mark." He held the control yokes in his hand. "Mark." Pressing the button, Maks felt his pod jolt as it directed itself closer to the city.

He grimaced as he saw a pod catch fire before hurtling out of control. The person inside never even screamed. Wherever it landed, it was going to be outside the city. Whoever was inside would be dead before they landed. It was a better fate then your pod losing control in freefall and digging your own grave. Trapped inside a small pod-turned-coffin. With a choice of either just waiting until lack of oxygen or hunger killed you, or you saved yourself the wait. Small mercies.

He pushed the thought into the back of his mind as the automated systems engaged. "Engaging Drag-chute." His pod shuddered violently as the chute deployed on his and the other pods to slow them down before making landfall. Gripping the yokes tight, he prepped himself to hit the ground. And show the aliens why to be ODST meant to be an elite.

**Raptor Flight: Raptor Lead**

"The fuckers banking left! Don't let him!"

"Like hell I'm going to let the bastard get away!" Raptor 2-2 shouted back. Lieutenant Clarice Ternen gritted her teeth. "Get back her you little twerp." She yanked her control stick left and right as she tried to keep the enemy fighter in her sights. The crosshairs in her helmet drawing upon the enemy fighter, shifting between red and green as they passed over and off the target. This time, as they passed over the target, they stayed red: a target lock. "Got him! Raptor 2-2 firing!" Her thumb depressed the button on top of the control stick, launching an ASGM-10 missile towards the target. At the same time, she pressed on the trigger on the stick, launching a burst of 110-mm shells from the fighter's rotary autocannon. Half of the burst found their mark, slamming into the fighter's shield, which, despite the salvo, still held. Its pilot let out a sigh of relief just before his fighter's console flared a warning: enemy ordinance locked on. His mind only had time to register the message before being consumed in a great flame as the missile found its mark.

"Hell yeah! That makes eight today!"

"Nice job Raptor 2-2, not bad." Flight control lieutenant called back. Taking a look at the general status of the fighter group ordered, "RTB Raptor flight. Time to refuel and rearm. Looks like you might be the last ones to go out. Enemy fighter squadrons are dropping out of the skies."

"What? Seriously?" Raptor lead was surprised, as were the rest of her squadron. They had realized they and the other fighters, ranging from other Longswords and several Saber squadrons, along with the new Broadswords were suprerior to the alien fighters but didn't realize they were that superior.

"Yeah, our fighters are really wiping the floor with them. And it doesn't help them that more than a few of their fighter groups tried to charge our frigates more than once."

"Alright then." Raptor lead responded. "You heard command girls, RTB to refuel and rearm. We-What the hell?" Her display started blaring warnings out to her, something about a, target lock! "Raptor flight: break formation, break now!" Almost as one, the five GA-TL1 Longsword-class Interceptors broke formation. Each heading off in individual directions, a moment later, flights of missiles passed by where each interceptor had been before turning to follow their respective fighters.

"Shit! Raptor flight, evade, evade, evade!"

Each interceptor began making maneuvers to try and throw off the missiles. All of them began firing off chaff and flares to throw off or force the missiles to detonate early. For some of them it worked. Setting off one missile and triggering a chain reaction. But for Raptor 2-3, whatever she tried, the missiles stubbornly tracked her interceptor.

"Help! I can't get this thing off me!"

"Roll! Roll!"

"I tried!"

"Head for one of the frigates! Get in range of their CIWS, use them to take down the missiles!"

"Copy that!" Raptor 2-3 turned her interceptor to the right, slamming on the throttle as she came out of the turn. The missile pack following her trail. "Oh god, oh god, oh god." Sweat dripped down her face as she desperately tried to outrun the missiles. Her onboard display blaring warnings as the missiles closed in. She tried to force more out her engines but they were already pushed to the max.

She cracked a small smile as a frigate, The Shepard's Staff, came into sight. "I'm going to make it, I think-" her radio cut off abruptly as the missiles made contact. Their sheer number overloading her shields and destroying her fighter in seconds.

"No!" Raptor 2-4 screamed. "2-3 do you read! 2-3!" She was answered with silence. Breaking protocol she cried, "God damn it if you're alive, Patricia, answer me!" Her radio crackled with static. Unseen by the others, but known by the rest of her squad mates, tears ran down the face of 2-4.

"Command, where did does that ordinance come from?" Raptor lead asked.

"One moment." Flight control answered. "Found it, it was from one of their frigates that came down in-atmo."

"Mark it on my HUD. Same for the rest of my squad. Tell the hangar crew to prep 'Rapier' for four. Raptor Lead out." Tears streaked down the face of the squadron leader's face but unlike 2-4, her face was contorted into a look of pure rage. "Bastards just took down one of my girls. None of them are getting the fuck off this planet now."

**Second Eden**

On the ground, all within in the city, turian, krogan and human alike, were transfixed by the sight of the pods streaking down from low orbit. The fact that the krogans and turians did not understand why their foes began cheering to the skies around them would be their undoing.

As the pods began landing around and outside the city, many of them landing behind enemy lines, very few crashed into any buildings.

On the ground, a turian soldier stared at the skies as the flames from reentry vanished and revealed the pods. "By the spirits, are they mad?!" His mandibles lay slack against his face, his jaw open at the sight and he was not the only one. His entire squad, a mix of standard troopers, with several sentinels and even an ex-Cabal who returned to active duty was staring at the skies. "What is wrong with these primitives?!"

His eyes widened as he realized several of those very pods was heading in his general direction. And one was, "Spirits! Everyone move! Get to cover! One of those things is coming down here!" He and the rest of his squad began rushing for whatever cover they could find, whether it be inside a nearby building or behind a vehicle.

The pod crashed down with a thunderous roar, sending tremors through the earth and through dust and debris into the air. Most of the squad remained fine, despite the dust thanks to their armor and helmets. "Sound off! Everyone alright." There was some coughing but the majority did call out their callsigns and reported themselves as being fine. "Weapons up, I want to take a closer look at that pod. Maybe get whatever poor volca out of there if it's still alive."

As they approached the pod, their astonishment increased as the dust settled and the pod could be seen more easily. The front, if what was facing them was it, had a cross-shape of what looked to be tinted glass, which didn't make sense as that would and should have shattered from reentry forces.

Inside the pod, an ODST lay waiting. The trooper knew that while they may be able to see outside the pod and the aliens, the aliens would not be able to look it. Gripping the M6-C variant pistol tightly, a hand waited against the release mechanism. Once pulled, the pod door would be violently ejected. Giving the ODST inside both an easy exit from the pod and at the same time, giving them a few precious seconds to act as the enemy was recovering from the pod door's ejection.

"C'mon, c'mon. Just get a little close you ugly bastard." The hand gripped the lever tighter.

As for the turians, the commander approached but kept his distance. Signaling one of his sentinels, he ordered. "Get over there, try and open up the pod. We'll cover you." With that the sentinel nodded and stepped forward, his omnitool out and ready.

Shaking his head as he found no remote access. He stepped closer to try and find a port to link to the pod or if needed, open it manually. Not knowing it would be the last thing he did on this new world.

Inside, the ODST grinned. "Gotcha."

As the turian sentinel approached the pod door, the last thing he would ever see would be the door being explosively propelled from the pod before it splattered him against it, slamming into a small car before bouncing around the street.

Trying to recover from the shock, both from the sudden death of their comrade and the explosive ejection of the pod door, the turian squad was slow to react. A trio of 12.7mm by 40mm rounds slammed into the head of another turian, this one a soldier. The first two powerful semi-armor piercing high-explosive rounds slamming into the turian's shield, causing it to shimmer as it stopped the rounds. The last round shattered the shield and sliced off one of the turian's mandibles.

Recovering from their stupor, the Turians trained their weapons on the pod and opened fire, filling the inside with a flood of mass accelerator rounds.

But the ODST had already abandoned the pod and rolled to the left by the time the Turians had opened fire on the pod. Slotting the pistol in its holster, the ODST brought up the rifle they had ripped from the pod to bear. The MA6-Series A-Variant rifle rattled on full-auto as the twice-over accelerated rounds slammed, shattered and eviscerated the shields and the bodies of the aliens in front of them.

The Cabal however, brought up the strongest barriers it could muster as it dived towards the pod itself, the closest cover in the area. Skimming their barriers as it made it, the pod rattled from the barrage it was subjected too. Gathering the energy for singularity in its palm, it moved around the pod and threw it where they had last seen the ODST.

Catching the ODST off guard, the trooper tossed themself forward to avoid the mass of dark energy. Barely avoiding the high-gravity sphere, the trooper rolled and in one fluid motion, slid right into the face of the Turian Cabal.

Forgoing their guns, the two elite soldiers threw themselves at the other, one drawing a knife, the other focusing their biotics into their fists. They grappled, trying to get an advantage over the other and pin them to the ground. The Cabal lightened its own weight using their biotics. The sudden shift caused the ODST to lose their focus, allowing the Cabal to pin the ODST to the ground. Smirking in victory, the Cabal pulled back its arm, and slammed down a biotically charged fist on the polarized visor.

Only to be meet with the shimmer of a shield as it intercepted the strike. Still the shield shattered but had reduced the blow by so much it only cracked the ODST's visor. Seizing the chance, the ODST brought up the knife and sliced the Cabal across the throat, arterial splatter coating the ODST's now cracked visor. The turian fell backwards, talons clutching at the wound uselessly trying to stem the blood flow.

Pulling itself up, the ODST flicked the blood off the knife before returning it to its sheath. Tracing a hand across the cracked visor, the trooper snarled audibly before removing the helmet and throwing it to the ground.

The dying Cabal, looking at the Elite Human warrior looked on wide eyed as the face of the human warrior was shown. It had expected a male to have been underneath that armor. A grizzled veteran with the scars to match.

The trooper tided up their hair, the knot having come undone during the drop. Looking down at the wide-eyed, dying alien warrior asked, "What? Never had a woman kick your ass before?" Tying off the knot, she removed the detachable earpiece from inside the helmet and placing it in her ear.

Back at Killian's position, the Krogan warrior who had the marine dead to rights looked away from the sky as the last of the falling objects disappeared from the sky. Turning back to his defeated foe, the Krogan smiled a wicked smile. It raised its massive shotgun once again towards Killian's face, who looked past the weapon and directly into the eyes of its holder.

As the massive finger squeezed the trigger, a massive crack sounded through the air. A second later, the gun was split in two, fragments flying into the air. The front of the weapon spinning through the air before landing on the ground.

Both soldiers and everyone else around them, alien and human alike, turned towards where the sound had come from. A single man stood in one the buildings, looking outside a ruined window. An ODST soldier, garbed in the blue striped uniform of a designated marksmen, on one knee with an SRS99D-S2 AM sniper rifle aimed at the pair.

"Have no fear! The Helljumpers are here! "

Across the city ODSTs began to joy the fray. The alien soldiers found themselves falling back as they were met by humanity's elite ODSTs. With the constant flow of elite and fresh troops, the invaders found themselves defeated at every turn, loosing what precious ground they had gained.

The tide had turned. They fast learned why the ODSTs were so feared.

Second Eden would not fall.

**APUFMKII**

Turian Frigate; Menae's People

"Tch, only got one of their fighters." The gunnery officer was irked, the missiles he had launched against the fighter squadron had all been evaded save one. And even then it was close as it was had been almost inside the alien cruiser-analogue. Likely trying to head into a safety zone where the ship's own weapons would have brought down the missiles themselves.

To the officer's side, his companion placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ah well, least you did before the one made it inside the zone."

"There is that. You got anything else on your scanners? Mine's clear."

Going through the various scanners modes, he also searched the skies. "Nope. All clear too." A blip appeared on his screen. "Wait a tick. I think I may have something." Going through the various modes, the blip remained the same. "Yeah. I got a contact. No, make that two, three. By the Ancestor, give me a moment to clear this up." Tapping away at the haptic interface before him, the turian officer worked to clear the sensor readings. "Got it! Reading four contacts. They're-" He paused, to reaffirm what the sensors were telling him. "They're fighters? What the hell do they think that'll do against a cruiser? Tickle our shields?" A few of the other officers let out a few laughs at the insinuation. They had no idea how wrong they were.

On the other side, across the now four women fighter squadron, each of them with tear streaked faces, their faces contorted by pure rage eyed the alien frigate-analogue in front of them with pure hate. "Alright ladies," Despite how much the death of Raptor 2-3, 'no Patricia, her name was Patricia' the squadron leader chided herself. However much it hurt, she knew for a fact that 2-4 was hurting worse then she could ever feel. The pair had a sisterly-relationship. Closer than most sisters actually ever were. There were even rumors the pair are, were, lovers.

None of that mattered now. "We've got an alien bastard who thinks they just took down one of the UNSC's best and they are going to get away with it. And what do we say to that?"

"They are going to burn for what they did!" Raptor 2-1 screamed.

"Blood, they will pay their debt in blood." Raptor 2-2 whispered.

"…" Raptor 2-4 didn't respond. Her face a stony façade as she glared at the vessel. If looks could kill, the frigate would have burned in an instant.

"Prep Rapier Packages." Across the four Longswords, four missile pods across the wings of each of the fighters, infrared laser designators tagging the alien frigate. "Pick your targets, and cut loose." With that, the fighter squadron broke formation, each heading along their own path towards the comparatively flat ship.

Raptor lead and 2-1 stayed together, the latter trailing behind the former. Tagging a location on the ship, the pair fired a total of eight missiles before pulling off a strafing run, unleashing a wall of 110mm shells that shattered against the shields before banking away and heading back the way they came.

Raptor 2-2 split and headed towards the rear of the ship. Letting loose her four missiles targeted directly at the engines before backing off and following Lead and 2-1.

Seeing the total of twelve, relatively small, missiles heading towards them, the turian crewmen shrugged it off. Not seeing any real threat. It would be their undoing.

Six of the twelve missiles shot ahead of their fellows. Two from each of their pack of four. The tips of these began to glow an iridescent green. A plasma green. The missiles began to close in together as much as possible without colliding. Focusing on a single point. The plasma energized missiles, meant to shatter the shields of a small capital ship upon impact, had a far different effect against Element Zero based barriers. The majority of the missile disintegrated upon hitting the shields, vaporizing on impact. However, the energized plasma ignored the barriers, splattering against and melting the hull. The plasma, from both literally melting the hull, and overloading several systems, weakened the kinetic barrier generators in that particular area. Meanwhile, the remaining four missiles began to line up one behind the other. The first vaporized much like the missiles before it, as did the second, but also exteremely weakened the barriers. The third simply ignored the barrier as though it didn't exist and burrowed a path into the warship, the fourth following suite, burying themselves deep within the ship.

Instead of detonating, the missiles simply sat there. Those who had survived the missile's murderous journey into the bowels of the ship rose. Some shell-shocked by what had just occurred. "Spirits, what just happened?" a turian engineer asked, blood streaming down his head. Looking around, he saw the missiles, just sitting there. "The missiles, they haven't detonated yet. Why?"

Before the engineer could do anything more, he was thrown off his feet as the process repeated itself in the rear of the ship. More missiles slamming into the engines but narrowly missing the engine core. At least, that was most assumed since they weren't free-floating particles. Orders were being shouted to evacuate the damaged sections and anyone that could try to affect damage control.

Outside the ship, Raptor 2-4 searched for a more suitable location to let loose her salvo. Passing by the side of the alien frigate, she spied what looked to be shuttered windows. A layer of armor that normally would not be deployed outside of combat to allow those inside to see outside. A wicked smile stretched across her face as she targeted her salvo directly at the shutter, firing it off before banking away. Never would she know, that when the two penetrator missiles burrowed their way into the ship, the first would impact the turian officer who had launched the salvo that killed Raptor 2-3.

With the loss of the bridge crew, the turian frigate began to list. Turning sideways and towards the ground. It would never reach it in one piece. The eight missiles that had buried themselves inside, registered the others were now also onboard. Each having burrowed inside. With the confirmation signals received, electricity was sent from internal batteries, triggering the release of neutron particles a small chunk of radioactive matter. Splitting the atoms with the forced addition of another neutron. Following Einstein's equation of mass-to-energy conversion, a massive amount of energy was released from the nuclear fission reaction. Contained for a split second inside the lead-container, it sought an escape. It did not care why it was there, why it was being blocked. All it cared about, was expanding as far as possible as demanded by the laws of entropy and it would not be denied.

In unison, eight low-yield nuclear missiles, each the equivalent of a Fury-tactical nuke, detonated. The missiles of a Rapier Anti-capital ship, meant to cripple the equivalent of a Covenant cruiser, was pitted against a pitiful Turian cruiser.

All that would mark the existence of the once mighty vessel would the glassy crater carved into the planet directly beneath where it once was.

*A/N: Correct me if you think I'm wrong but seeing what the Infinity did in the Spartan Ops episode 1, I think it's shield would be able to take a MAC shot like it's nothing, especially after passing through another ship.


	7. Shanxi: Loss

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mk II

Thanks to Micheal1110 for betaing this for me. Also, I know I said that I would wait until this is around 10k words but circumstances have forced me to post this now and go on hiatus. Not cause I don't have ideas for the story, but I find myself with less and less time to work and must go onto hiatus.

Any updates will be edits to prior chapters and codex entries.

Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter!

Chapter 7

Shanxi: Espionage, Rescue, Tragedy

**ONI Sec III Safe House: Tero City**

Outside a relatively unassuming looking apartment building dozens on Shellheads and Hunters ambled about. Talking, eating, patrolling. Some writing messages to be sent back home. Inside, though, was the hidden and secure above ground bunker, built for the Office of Naval Intelligence: Sec III. One of a dozen scattered across the planet; each holding enough arms and provisions to keep five men comfortable for days and well-armed, the bunker itself impenetrable to all but the most powerful of dedicated drilling tools. Inside this particular bunker was one man. A scientist, by the name: Doctor Alan Morgan Denton. Considered the leading head of all Forerunner related technologies, bested only by the great Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey. And currently the only ONI Sec III personnel on the planet.

"Great," he said as he placed the cup of now lukewarm coffee, a habit that he had picked up from Halsey when he worked with her back in 2510s and 2520s, "The one day I pick to go on some much needed vacation and I get caught in the middle of a First Contact invasion." Dragging his palm across his face, he groaned. "Why couldn't it have been tomorrow? Least that way my vacation would have been extended." The doctor was not unsympathetic to the colonists and defenders outside the safe house. No, if anything he would gladly have allowed some into the safehouse. However, it had failsafes to detonate several dozen kilos of C-12 High Explosive Plastique if it detected any unauthorized personal. He had simply accepted the situation for what it was and that he was helpless to do anything. He was not a solider, but a researcher and scientist. And he had long realized the other situation that he was in. For the longest time, since his 'induction' into ONI, he had further made himself invaluable with every single achievement. And yet he was young, having been drafted into ONI Section I in his teenage years. And because of his youth, he was defiant, he fought for what he believed to be right, and because of it he was a pain in the ass to certain individuals. Particularly to one Vice Admiral Margaret C. Paragonsky.

But as hated he was by some, he couldn't simply be removed. No. He was too valuable and too well known for that. If he were to disappear or suddenly die, then HIGHCOM would likely shake the ONI tree to see what secrets came falling out.

He had lost count of the number of times he had been "assigned" to hazardous posts, where by all rights, he should have died. Yet here he was, alive and kicking. Well, perhaps with a few more scars here and there then when he had begun but alive. Planets bordering known Heretic Space, hazardous Forerunner installations, even worlds under the control of the Sangheilli and High Charity, all of them he had been sent, hoping it would be his grave. And this First Contact provided the greatest opportunity the Vice Admiral would ever have. Granting her the first opportunity to send one of her own agents to assassinate him and remain innocent and unsuspected in his death.

And outside the bunker, several buildings away, lying prone under some debris, ONI agent Phoenix watched the entrance to the bunker. "Damn." Muttering under his breathe, he lowered the binoculars, "This is going to be a bitch to get by." The outside of the safehouse had too many shuffling around or near it for him to sneak through. Even with an active camouflage module. "Need a distraction or something." Bringing the binoculars back to his face, he took another look at the area. Not that far away from the bunker, but at least several hundred meters from him, an obvious command center over there, what looks like a barracks, a mess hall and, "Hello there, what's this?" A triage center: a battlefield hospital within the base. Considering how he saw wounded on beds and aliens running back and forth between them. "Hmm…that has some opportunities." He thought. Looking again he found something that really caught his eye, or actually, several someones: there was a group of aliens, both Hunters and Shellheads, from the random radio chatter, on both the police and military network (MilNet) he had managed to pick up. Some were wearing armor that were more, hardened, in a sense. They had modifications, couldn't tell what they were for, but any he saw, only a few had them. And the group was in a direction opposite of the safehouse and the extraction route.

Putting away the binoculars, he removed a now outdated but heavily-modified SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle from his back, along with the special ammunition he had packed just for this mission. The ammo had been modified to pack a lower powder charge so it wouldn't leave a vapor trail back to the shooter. Granted they would be hard-pressed to find him in the dark but he preferred not to take the chance. The rifle itself has been modified to mount a silencer and a shorter barrel. This cut down the range of the weapon to a fraction of its original capability but it would be enough to suit his purpose.

Already prone, he laid down the sniper rifle on the ruined floor, making sure to keep the barrel inside the building. Covering any reflective surface, doing whatever he could to make any chance of detection near nil. Satisfied, he trained the crosshairs on a Shellhead, this one standing inside the battlefield hospital, and if its armor was any indication, an officer. Bringing the crosshairs directly over its center mass, he stopped. Taking a breath, and holding it. Slowing down his body as much as consciously could to reduce any level of sway in the rifle. Then, he pulled the trigger.

A hammer fell. Fire burned. Death flew through the air. All that was heard was a whisper of the wind. In a split second, the modified 12.5 by 114mm Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot ammunition flew through the air at a fraction of its optimized velocity, but still it covered the distance between Phoenix and its target in less than a second. The silencer and reduced velocity turn the sound into little more than a hard smack. A noise drowned out by the panic and the noises from the camp. Looking through the scope, he saw his target fall. A Hunter came into view, and he pulled the trigger again. He didn't bother to see if he hit his target. He had already replaced the rifle on his back and began moving for the safehouse entrance.

Back inside the safehouse, Denton finished off the lukewarm coffee before the 'dumb' AI alerted him to someone trying to access the safehouse. "Well, I guess this is it." Standing up, he moved toward the door, an MA6-A series rifle in his hand. Holding it like it was an old friend, he loaded and pulled the charging handle like a veteran. He heard the outer door close, then the inner door open. The airlock was pitch dark. "Well, come on then. Your one of the bitch's agents right? You here to kill me or what?"

"Please, put your weapon down sir. We need to get to the extraction point." The figure didn't enter the room. The doctor still had the weapon trained on the entrance, and Phoenix could see the safety block had been released; he had heard the bolt cycle and shut close with a round in place. A cycling bolt with a bullet sounds different enough from an empty bolt. "Admiral Paragonsky sent me herself. I-" A burst let loose in the sound proofed room, slamming into the space just next to the door. The only other sound the shell casings as they clattered onto the floor.

"See that doesn't help your case. She's the bitch that's tried to have me killed for the past several years. If you really are here to extract me, then toss your weapons, and I mean all of them, into the room and then your helmet. Then you walk in here. And maybe I'll consider leaving with you." To the doctor's surprise, the ONI SpecOps Agent did exactly that with little hesitation: an old modified BR55HB-SR "Battle Rifle", with a slimmer profile and lacking the tactical scope and instead sporting a red dot sight, a modified SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and a silenced M7-B series Magnum pistol. "Alright get in here." Lowering the rifle, but not relocking the safety. "Give me a moment to get ready and we'll get out of here."

Phoenix stepped forward and took his gear. First donning his helmet before walking into the light, then grabbing the rest of his weapons and gear, replacing them back in their proper places. "Doctor we don't have the time, if you haven't saved it into a moveable data packet then leave it. We need to leave now."

"I realize that, which is why I am activating Locust protocol. We can't leave anything here to these new aliens." Locust Protocol was a command that should anyone enter the safe house without a proper ONI Sec III IFF(Identify Friend or Foe) Tag, charges inside the safehouse would detonate, causing an implosion shortly after a data purge. Otherwise, anything inside could be salvaged later. "Let go."

**Tero City: Courthouse**

The pair had left the safehouse behind some time ago and entered the Courthouse through an unsecured, and still intact, back entrance. The entrances to where the Human prisoners were being held had been sealed off by their alien captors. Forcing the pair to travel via the secondary levels, the only access to which remaining was the door they had entered through. A forced path by the fact that as the rear of the Courthouse had all but collapsed and this was the shortest route to a secondary hidden ONI emergency vehicle hideaway. Standard operating procedure for ONI was to have emergency secondary extraction vehicle Problem be a considerable distance from the primary safehouse. For the pair though, , the main problem was the doctor's, as Phoenix called it, "Bloody Noble heart".

"I told you before doctor, we can't do anything for them." Phoenix whispered as they quietly traversed the second level. "Leave them."

"Bullshit! I refuse to leave those people behind!" He replied in a harsh but low voice. "We can save these people, we can-urk!" The ONI SpecOps Agent had grabbed Denton by the throat and had brought him face to helmet. The doctor seeing only the barest reflection of his face in the visor in the low light.

"Even if we tried to save all these people, we can't take them anywhere. The extraction vehicle, at most will hold a dozen, maybe a few more. There are Hundreds of people here doctor. We couldn't save them if we wanted." Letting Denton go, he turned round again, "If you're done doctor we need to go. Extraction vehicle isn't far now."

The doctor turned his head, looking down on the people just below him, totally oblivious to his presence. A man tending to a wounded woman, a wife or girlfriend if the looks they were giving each other was any sign. A child being comforted by someone that was obviously not family, families and couples huddled together around what light and fires there were. He turned his heart heavy, and moved to follow the SpecOps agent when he heard a language he had not heard in months. The tongue of the Sanghelios.

"Get off of her!" It was a rough, harsh voice. Male. When he looked again, he saw a male Sangheili, just shy of seven feet tall, a juvenile, barely an adult by Human standards, and obviously wounded, based on the bandages on his body, had tried to attack one of the aliens, a Shellhead. Though his efforts were futile as due to alien's girth, and his owns wounds, was tossed easily aside. He saw the wounded Sangheili soon surrounded by other Humans. But his attention was caught by yells coming from the Shellhead. No, from what he held in his hand. A young female Sangheili, similar in age, if a bit older than the male of her species.

"Get this chatta off of me! Help!" A chill went down his body. No matter what, however bad the situation, did Sangeheili ever cry out for help. Granted she was young but, "Shit! Get this bastard away from-AH!" The bastard had hit her! It was obvious what was going on, this Shellhead, for whatever reasons, had decided to beat on the prisoners. It was obvious why its compatriots were not trying to stop him. Some were standing there watching, whilst others were too far off in the background to know what was going on. In the corner of his eye, he saw a small pile of corpses, previous victims of the alien's bloodlust. He pulled up his assault rifle and started to pull down-

A hand slammed down on the rifle, forcing the barrel of the weapon down and his finger away from the trigger. "Hey, what the hell are you doing! I said we needed to get the hell out of here!"

"Do you see what is going on here!" He snarled back, "We can't leave them here!"

Phoenix grabbed Denton by the shirt again. "We have to!" Ripping the rifle out of the doctor's hands, he stepped back. "I am not about to risk my life or yours just because of your fucking bleeding heart! My orders are to get you out of the city and back into UNSC-Controlled territory. Now you your ass doctor and follow me to the extraction point."

Denton didn't say a thing, he didn't need to. Instead, ignoring the SpecOPs agent, he turned towards the Shellhead, drawing his M7-C series Misirah Armories Magnum pistol and pulled the trigger. The gunshot thundered throughout the courthouse, just moments after the 12.7 M225 Semi-Armor-Piercing High-Explosive round slammed into the Shellhead, entering through the hump and exiting out its face.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Screams of panic as Human prisoners ran trying to avoid an future gunshots, the roars of the aliens as they tried to figure out where the shot had come from, and more gunshots as the doctor used his neural implant to link with the internal smart-scope, taking aim and firing upon the aliens further away. The staccato of rifle fire soon joined the fray as Phoenix opened fire with the Doctor's rifle.

"Over here!" The doctor called out, waving to the people below, "Come on, we got to get out of here!" A stampede soon began as people began rushing for the pair. People were trampled underfoot as they tried to get to their believed rescuers. The first ones to reach them were the Sangheilli pair, who helped up several others, and were the process of helping others onto the second level when death came.

They heard a roar as another Shellhead had charged into the midst of the scrambling prisoners. Beating it fists upon whomever and whatever it could reach. A young woman suffered a punch so hard that she slammed into the wall, three feet away. The blood trail on the wall as she fell was a clear sign she was dead. An elderly man was thrown into a group of people, knocking them all down. Before it could try to do so again, a group of men, at least a dozen strong, and all of them burly, obviously bodybuilders or something similar, jumped on the Shellhead. Each of them had bruises, casts, or some sort of injury caused by the Aliens, and they all wanted their pound of flesh. Even wounded, the twelve managed to weigh it down, beating upon its face with whatever they could get their hands on. One of them produced a makeshift shiv, and stabbed it in the Shellhead's eye. It roared in agony as the shiv entered the body, but couldn't move with all the weight upon it, which only increased as more left the scramble and joined in on the beating.

More and more people were being helped unto the second level by the Sangheilli pair and several others, the doctor directing them down towards the direction Phoenix had been taking him. Until suddenly Phoenix cried out, "DOWN!" Denton, Phoenix, the Sangheilli and few others all dropped to the ground, or close as they could. It saved their lives.

A split second later, bullets rained into the courthouse. Killing anyone unlucky enough to be out of cover, those above having the only cover by the angle of the fire, human prisoners were ruthlessly cut down by their captors. No quarter was given. By the time the bullets stopped firing, the only noises were the groans of the dying, the hissing of the alien weapons as they cooled and the harsh breathing on the few hidden survivors on the upper floor. In the background, faint cries could be heard in the distance along with the sounds of more weapons fire.

Sliding over towards Denton, Phoenix snarled, "Now you see what your bleeding heart got you? Before these people might have been saved, but now, now they're all dead." Denton didn't respond, he was staring towards the face of a young woman, no older than 20, her face permanently frozen her terror, her hand faintly grasping the edge of the second floor. "Now, let's get to the extraction point and no further incidents from here on agreed?" Not bothering to wait for a response, Phoenix turned to the rest," if you want to get out of here, you do what I say, when I say. Try and be a smartass or a hero, and I'll fucking shoot you myself. Now follow me."


	8. Shanxi: Aftermath

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mk II

A/N: 1: Beginning of a subplot here with an OC developed by a friend. Doing so at his request. You'll know what I mean when you read it. Another A/N at the bottom.

Sorry for the lateness and shortness of this chapter, RL got in the way and I haven't been able to work on the story until this month. Hopefully I can start pumping chapters out faster. This is quite the filler chapter and after which the pace will pick up. It's a bit rushed. Due to the fact that I no longer remember who, if at all, betaed these chapters for me, please remind me who you are. If they do not, I will post an alert chapter. That said, this will probably be edited later on and reposted. If you haven't already, chapters 1-4 have been edited and reposted.

As Always please Read and Review.

Chapter 8

Shanxi: Aftermath

"They told me to fight, and that's what I've done. Let historians sort through the wreckage, bodies, and broken lives to figure out the rest."

— Admiral Preston Cole, Circe 2525

**Bridge: UNSC Infinity-Class Warship: Era of Retaliation**

Rear Admiral Jesse De La Rosa watched from his ship, rotated so that the bridge was facing the planet, the war torn colony of Shanxi. The once colony that had been called a paradise, the colony that was supposed to mark the true beginning of a new age of peace and prosperity, burned. What was supposed to be the final chapter on the Human-Covenant War and the wars immediately thereafter was now the first chapter in of a new era, of another war.

Below him fires still burned across the planet as they routed the last few pockets of enemy resistance. They had taken multiple prisoners but the majority had chosen to die, most by battle, a scant few by suicides. Similar to Japanese soldiers during World War II. His attention was focused on the remains of Babel, or rather, the irradiated crater that was the base of Babel. It was just one of just over a dozen or so craters that now pocket-marked Shanxi's surface.

He sighed. It had come from the alien's final shot. When all the Type-1s had retreated back through the artifact, the Type-2s continued to fight, some with a greater ferocity than before. But without assistance from the Type-1s, they proved to be of little danger to the ships of the UNSC. There were no longer any tactics or strategy, just pure hard-headed battleplans. The remaining Type-2s simply opened fire with all they had but it was scattered, no concentrated fire or any maneuvers whatsoever. They quickly decimated the remaining Type-2s and the other unclassified warships.

At the last moment however, the Type-2 cruiser tonnage vessel, its hull punctured by a H-MAC shot from a Light-Cruiser the Dawn of David, clean through and through and most of its outer hull peeled off by the same cruiser's L-MAC shots, in a moment of rage or desperation, reoriented is bow to towards the planet.

At that moment, every ship captain knew what about to happen. What would happen and the futility in trying to stop it. Yet even so, every single captain ordered their ships and maximum velocity towards the Type-2 variant alien cruiser. Even the Rear Admiral himself had tried, by God Almighty they had tried, but it was all in vain.

With what was very well its last breath, the alien cruiser-weight craft fired at Shanxi. A light-frigate, Forward Unto Dawn, one of the few that had been tasked to planetside duty had attempted to intercept the shot. Its engines flaring a bright white, its hull creaking as it was pushed to its limits and beyond. Inside its reactors were pushed into the red zone, her engineers trying to push out more and more power out the ship while making sure they did not detonate in the process. Their effort had almost succeeded. The nose of the ship had entered the path of the shot a second after before. Sure the ship would be destroyed but it was a sacrifice the crew of the frigate had been all too ready to make. Yet it was not to be. What hit the ship was an empty shell, a carrier unit for the payload within. Moments before the Dawn had arrived, the alien round had shattered itself. Not by accident, but by design. Within had been a dozen nuclear warheads of equal payloads. The moment the casing had come apart, the warheads had separated themselves and gone off on their own our, separate paths.

A minute after the alien cruiser's shot, mushroom clouds doted the planet. Whatever pyrrhic victory the shooters had felt, did not last long enough for them to enjoy it. A split-second later, every single piece of ordinance from the Shanxi Liberation Fleet from autocannons to Archer Pod Missiles and Hades-Class Nuclear missiles and H-MACs from the Retaliation itself slammed into the alien warship. The UNSC Fleet did not stop until the magnetic coils had overheated, Archer pods had been emptied and autocannon reserves exhausted.

And here the Rear Admiral stood. They had taken back Shanxi, with far less in-battle-casualties than had been expected. But still, this was a pyrrhic victory. This colony had been meant to mark the beginning of a new era. Of a true end to the era of warfare that had left a black mark on Humanity for decades. Now, it seemed, Shanxi would just be another beginning to a new war. Not to mention the lives already lost planetside. Those within Second Eden survived, as did all who managed to reach the city before things really went to hell. But so many had been stranded outside the city, or killed in the first day. What was worse was the number that had been killed during the time the fleet had been moving with all haste towards Shanxi. And then, there were the death damps. Least that was what those who had been assigned the duty of clearing out the enemy bases were calling it. The number of the colonists that survived accounted for less than twenty percent of the colony's total population.

Twenty.

Fucking.

Percent.

Of a colony of almost half a million. Most of those numbers were currently rated as missing. But they had found the death camps. Where only Christ knows how many people were executed in cold blood. The bodies had been piled as people climbed over the dead to reach, anything. Anything that could promise them a false hope. The clean-up effort had already begun. The bodies removed, tagged and the families notified. Of course ONI had gotten their people off the planet. It was only one man but still.

The Era had intercepted an old Blackcat-Class subprowler as it exited atmosphere. On it had been survivors from the planet, along with a single ONI Sec-III Special Operations, Reconnaissance, Tactics, Engineering and Deconstruction, or SORTED, trooper. Not the greatest of names but it defined their purpose. They were an all-purpose special operations division. For when you need skill beyond that of normal special operations but needed to operate under the radar, as Sec-III always did. Considering the Spartan Program was no longer under the domain of Sec-III. The other survivors had been from the local UNSC detachment on the planet, an odd group of young men and women and two Sangheilis. Their debriefing would be handled by others. Right now his efforts were focused on the planet, and making sure that no ship went off on some vendetta through the artifact.

But Rear Admiral Jesse De La Rosa couldn't help but shake the feeling that this would not end so easily as this battle had.

**Citadel: Presidium: Council's Private Chambers**

"You and Torsk did WHAT!" Tevos yelled. The usually prim and proper Asari Matriarch and Councilor yelled. Having lost her composure for the first time since her daughter had told her she was bonding with a Krogan, at what she and the other Councilors had just been told. "Are you telling me you encountered an unknown species and deliberately," stressing the word "attacked them? By the Goddess what were you thinking?"

The four Councilors and the remaining commanding officer from what is now being tentatively labeled as the Relay 314 Incident, were, for all intents and purposes, interrogating Desolas Arterius., currently stripped of all ranks and honors related to his command. News of his sudden and dishonorable discharge from the Turian Armed Forces was still unknown but the first people in the room knew it was only a matter of time.

"Yes I would like to know that as well." Urdnot Wrex, current Councilor for the Krogan Empire. "We Krogan, before we had inflicted ourselves with the genophage, were arguably the most conflict prone species in the galaxy. And I find myself shocked by what you have done." Turning towards his Turian counterpart he asked, "Teranus, what do you have to say about this?"

Teranus, a relatively young Turian who had been be given the right to Councilorship sighed. This was his first real issue that he had presented to his since her appointment no so long ago. Straightening himself he asked, "Arterius, tell me." He started, putting his talons together, "What possessed you to assault this new species? By your own statements, and that of your remaining crews along with flight recorder information, you attacked without provocation."

"They were in violation of Council Law." He answered. "They were the process of activating a Primary Mass Relay when we had discovered them. In accordance with Council Law I and Torsk moved to stop them." Choosing his words carefully he stated, "When they did respond to our hails, I ordered a warning shot to be fired at what I believed to be the alien's version of a dreadnought. Soon after, the alien warship attacked my fleet and destroyed two of my ships. Once they had activated the Relay, they traveled through it. Gathering our forces, we followed soon after."

"This is where I find things to be interesting Arterius." Teranus started. "You stated they came through the Mass Relay, but then stated that they were in the process of activating one. You know as well as I do that the power used to activate one relay is also used to activate its counterpart at the other end."

"I realize that Councilors but it is what I saw. I have no explanation for it."

"Perhaps," the Salarian Councilor interrupted, "this is what occurs when two primary relays exist in the same system? After all this is the one system where we have discovered two primary relays and a secondary relay."

"Perhaps." Teranus agreed. "For now, I still have questions." As the other councilors continued to question the former-General, Wrex looked out towards the Mass Relay, which was little more than a bright blue light at this distance. Wondering just what would be the consequences from this. His gut told him it would not be long until they found out. And that when they did, no one was walking away from this unscathed.

**UNSC: Era of Retaliation: Secondary Medical Bay**

Squid hissed and rose as the doctor applied the disinfectant to his wounds. "Oi! Keep still Squiddy! Or do I have to get your girlfriend in her again?" The doctor demanded, referring to, not Serana but Katy. The young woman proved to be one hell of a spitfire. Especially considering how she had slapped Squid hard enough to forcible turn his head. Giving him one hell of a dressing down when he tried to be a "Strong Sangheili" warrior and refuse medical treatment. The threat of bringing her back was enough to calm him down and sat back down. "Good. Now if you'll keep still for a little longer maybe we can get done this century."

It was a similar scene all around him, the rest of his friends along with the other few survivors that joined them and survived the slaughter at the internment camp were receiving medical treatment for any injuries they suffered.

'Hood' was getting his arm re-broken and reset. When they had put his arm in the sling, they had accidentally misaligned the bone. Now they were taking steps to make sure it healed properly. Katy had already left, having only slight bruising. She was the luckiest of those injured. Alexei was being treated for severe bruising and his cracked ribs. He was currently being placed in a large body-cast like wrapping to help facilitate the healing. His hands were already wrapped in a similar manner, by luck or fate he had managed to avoid any sort of head trauma when he was forced to brawl with the Shellheads. Maho was being treated for a busted jaw and a concussion. He had gotten into a brawl with some of the other prisoners who didn't like his efforts to try and keep everyone's morale up with his jokes. Cris was more or less uninjured. He had suffered only a few deep cuts from close shots and shrapnel. But Serana had been the worst off.

She had suffered more than a few gunshot wounds, glancing shots from when they had made their initial escape. She had refused to say anything of it and had kept quiet until she had passed out from blood loss on the Blackcat-Class Subprowler. No one had noticed her bleeding due to the darkness of the night as they traveled and her own dark clothes. The slightly darker color the clothes had gained from the moisture was barely noticeable. Right now they had just finished working on her on one of the designated surgical beds inside the Medbay. What was interesting was how, aside from the medical staff, someone had shown a keen interest in Serana. In fact, before she had collapsed from the blood loss, the man that helped saved them, Alan Denton, had stolen more than a few covert looks at her, and had turned away when she tried to face him. Now he was keeping a permanent vigil over her.

The friends shared a look between each other, least those that could. If this Alan attempted anything, court martial be damned they would show him the other end of the closest airlock.

What the group of friends didn't know though, was that Alex had no intentions of letting the female Sangheili before him come to any harm. It was not as though he had been disenfranchised, that he preferred to company of other species other than his own or no company at all to that of his fellow man. Rather that due to his experiences, he was perhaps the most open-minded and accepting human being in all of known space. For that reason he stood a personal vigil over the young Sangheili woman. When he saw her, he felt an emotion he had not felt for the longest time. Desire, infatuation. His work left little time for such things. Yet, when he saw her, it was, different. What caught his attention strangely enough were her eyes. They drew his attention and he found himself looking more and more.

Now here he was, despite her being unconscious, he felt more along the lines of a sort of honor guard. Least until she woke up, then perhaps he could- "Ohhh."

Speak of the devil and he, or rather she, shall appear. Pressing a hand down on her shoulder he said, "Easy there, you just came out of surgery. Doctors say you're lucky to still be standing, even for one of your kind." Serana didn't recognize the voice but felt the honesty in the stranger's words and felt comfortable enough to relax. "You were lucky you know. These new generation of doctors knowing how to treat not just humans but other species as well."

Her eyes still shut she asked. "Where am I?"

"INF-101 class vessel UNSC Era of Retaliation. Would you like me to run off the serial number for you too?"

"Who are you? Where are my friends?" Serana asked. She started fidgeting as she tried to get up, but Alex's hand pressing down on her and her own weariness kept here from rising."

A voice from behind Alex answered her. "We're here Serana." 'Hood' answered. "All of us. Maho has his jaw taped shut but frankly that's an improvement." Muffled cries sounded out in protest at his statement. "But otherwise we're all going to be. You gave us quite a scare." Turning his attention to Alex he asked, "The rest of us are curious too. Just who are you? Not anyone ranks a SORTED trooper extraction."

Letting go of Serana, he pulled back and leaned into his chair. "Professor Alex Morgan Denton. Office of Naval Intelligence: Section III. And very pissed off his vacation has just been ruined." 'and infatuated with the woman in the bed right now.' He added in his mind.

"Wait, Professor Denton?" Cris asked, stepping closer towards the professor. "As in the man second only to Halsey regarding Forerunner Technologies? As in the man who helped fast produce a navy after the attack on Earth?" By this time the rest of the group had left their own beds and approached their friends. Though now all of their attention was focused on the older man before them.

"Yes that man." Alex answered. Getting up, he said, "I'm going to have a word with the captain of the ship. I'd suggest all of you recover quickly. I have a feeling this war has only just begun." Sparing one last glance at Serana, he turned and headed for the exit.

After the doors had closed behind, Serana had risen to sitting position and asked, "Is it normal for humans to stand guard over a total stranger while they are asleep?"

**Epsilon Eridanus System: Planet Reach: UNSC HighCom Facility**

The holodisplay shut down as the digital three-dimensional reproduction of the Battle over Shanxi concluded. The footage had been sent by the Prowler, Evening's Light, covertly attached to the battle group sent to liberate Shanxi. The people who had just watched the battle, no not even a battle, it was a slaughter. They may have lost a few of their own ships, but by comparison to the losses suffered over the course of the Human-Covenant war, it was a paltry number.

The people meeting together were the same people who had sent the Rear Admiral to retake Shanxi. Lord Hood was the first to speak. "So, what course do we assume?" He asked. They all knew the reason why he asked the question. This was another First Contact scenario and war seemed to be just around the corner. Every single person in the room realized, if they went to war, this would be another Human-Covenant War, but technologically, Humanity would be this species' Covenant. "By what we have seen ourselves, we would have little issues against this new species with the exception of numbers. From what we have gathered, they are most likely capable of fielding far more vessels than we currently are."

"There is not to mention the fact that their version of FTL travel allows them to change the battlefield scenario from a firefight to a bloody boxing match." Whitcomb added. "Damn suicidial bastards just charge head-in where we can't even use our MACs against them."

"Even so, if we were to engage them in any sort of serious war capacity, there is very little doubt it would be a hard conflict." Hood paused as he looked into the eyes of every human officer in the room. "And I refuse to become like the Covenant of old."

"Yet you, no we, can not allow this." Thel Vadam said. Though he was not a human, he had started to see humanity and the New Covenant as separate entities as time passed. "If we allow this, these upstarts may presume to attack us yet again."

"If I may offer a suggestion." All the attention in the room turned to Colonel Ackerson. He stood and began to walk around the room where the meeting was taking place. "From the information we have been sent, these 'upstarts' as you call them," nodding to the Arbiter, "are part of a larger alien coalition. As a compromise, I suggest that we send a strike force to several planets of the aggressor species. Show that we will not take this, war crime, sitting down. However, we send an envoy to this," he paused to refer to his tac-pad mounted on his forearm. "Citadel, 'discovering' it as we 'searched' for additional planets, and sue for peace." He said focusing on Lord Hood and Jeromi, Stanforth and Sesa' Refumee. "If the aggressor species is unresponsive to our demands, but the others are not, we simply grant a formal declaration against only the aggressor species." This time focusing on Paragonsky, Thel and Rtas'. "If that is agreeable?"

The others began to discuss amongst themselves Ackerson smirked internally. There was little to no chance his suggestion would not be accepted. It appealed to all of those in attendance in some way or form. His Special Programs would also draw more funding as they moved to war footing, even if only temporarily. He and Paragonsky and her protégé, Osman, had already discussed this at length aboard the Vice Admiral's personal prowler, The Shadow's Day. Prowler names had, in recent vessels, had always been some form of oxymoron, reflecting the shadowy nature of the ONI itself.

As the discussions ended, Ackerson turned his attention back to the meeting. "Very well than Colonel, as you have suggested; we will begin plans for retaliatory action and if necessary, total conflict. Until then, dismissed."

As the highest ranking officers of the Alliance left the room, Lord Hood stayed behind. Despite it having been many years since the fall of the Old Covenant, he still appeared as he did during the first invasion of Earth. After so many years of conflict, and now after they had just finished one era of war, and a short one of peace, Humanity would march forward to into the arms of war again. "May God have mercy upon our souls."

Preview

"To all Alliance ships in Relic Space, move in on Palaven. 'The Great Mountain' has been found, I repeat, 'The Great Mountain' has been found."


	9. UNSC: Short Negotiations

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mk II

A/N: Will refer to Human-Covenant War as The Great War from now on for the most part.

Warning, partial backstory spoilers for Halo 4 and the Novel: Halo: Crytum.

A/N: People have been saying they think I've made the UNSC seem weak. Well hopefully this changes your minds. Also, shield technologies. There will be or already have been, a surge in codex entries. I try to address as many holes people point out to me as personally as possible. And am grateful. This is just a blanket solution.

Also, sorry for piss poor quality of chapter. Will work on edit sometime in the future.

Betaed by Micheal1110

Also, kept promise of quick update. Lets see if I can keep it going!

Terminology for this chapter

Port: left

Starboard: right

Bow: front

Stern: back

Chapter 9

UNSC: Retaliation

**Citadel: Private Councilor Chambers**

Five Earth Weeks since the Events of Shanxi

The Councilors were having an informal meeting inside a room designed and made to act as a Faraday Cage, meaning the entire room was totally sealed off. Once the doors had closed, no signals of any sort could enter or exit the room. Least in theory.

They had decided to conduct an informal meeting to discuss the events from two weeks ago. Events that shook Galactic Society as they knew it to its core.

Tevos finished her drink and replaced the cup on the table. "So, what have your people reported so far? Any news?"

Teranus leaned forward and put the tips of his talons together. "We've expanded the shipyards around Palaven and have begun construction of three others in Volus Protectorate space with their permission. But it will be time before we can recoup our losses. Aepheus was a terrible blow." Some time ago, the Turian Hierarchy had lost all contact with their largest shipyards outside of their home system. Transmissions had simply ceased to come in and when a task force had been sent to investigate they found the planet in tatters. The shipyards and the ships had been, for lack of a better term, melted. Evidenced remained of energized gasses or plasma, but it was inconclusive.

Wrex crossed his arms as he leaned back into the wall. "We're rebuilding the facilities over Mantun, but it's going to weeks, months even, before we're even close to what we were producing at its peak. Right now our fuel supply lines have tripled. We've making deals with whoever we can to try and offset the losses." The Krogans had lost Mantun, a planet known for its incredible capability to produce anti-protons for interstellar travel. It had similar to the situation at Aepheus however the weapons used were obviously projectile based. Great tears had been made and ships were gutted from stem to stern by what appeared to be a single shot. The orbital solar energy collection stations had been totally obliterated, to the point where they were worth more as scrap than actual salvage. What was radically different from the Turian situation was what had happened on the ground.

Unlike at Aepheus, where planetary installations, barring communication stations, had been untouched, at Mantun, every single installation had been destroyed by heavy orbital bombardment. Everything from the planetary guns, which were now little more than craters larger than the weapons themselves, to barracks, now piles of rubble, had been targeted.

"Interesting how they only attacked and then abandoned the system." Valdn, the Salarian council said. "It's not hit and run tactics as they totally decimated the planets and their strategic value. They made sure every single component of the shipyards and the solar collection stations had been destroyed. If had been a hit-and-run, than they would have only destroyed a few components before fleeing." He paused, making sure he had the attention of the other Councilors. "I can think of very few reasons for this. One being that these battles dealt them far more casualties than they had expected or could handle, and had taken all of their technology back with them. Another being that they didn't know the value of the planet. Simply striking at what they saw as an enemy held world and dealing as much damage before leaving. Or, and most likely and disturbing is this: they recognized the strategic values of these worlds to us, but they are of little importance to them."

His last statement made the entire group tense. They had assumed these species were relatively primitive in comparison to them, as it seemed they still relied on chemical-based projectiles and explosives for the most part as opposed to mass accelerators and anti-matter based explosives. These two attacks changed that view. Rather than capture or even leave intact to reverse-engineer, these new species simply destroyed the defending ships and orbital stations. All of the Councilors were hoping Valdn was wrong about the third reason why they were so through.

"Very well then," Tevos began, "do any of us have-" she was interrupted by a knocking on the door. Though the room was private and set up against electronic-espionage, they could still be notified if needed. "One moment." She rose and moved towards the double doors. When she opened them, she found herself facing a very harried young Asari, still in her maiden days. Sweat bead on her face, her eyes wide, evidence whatever news she had was likely disturbing indeed. "Well, what has happened?"

Gasping the maiden replied, "Councilors, I apologize but, an alien ship has just appeared Citadel space and, you need to see this for yourself."

Moments later, the four Councilors had arrived at the Central Tower of the Citadel, granting them a view of the entirety of the Citadel. What they saw before them resulted in a myriad of reactions. The Salarian Councilor started muttering about impossibilities and theoritcs. The Turian Councilor stood stock still, his facial features and appendages fallen taut. The Asari Councilor closed her eyes and began muttering a soft prayer to Athame. Wrex simply crossed his arms and started cursing under his breath and damning Torsk evening more to the lowest pits of Kalros's shit pile.

For in the middle of the space between the wings of the Citadel stood a single vessel, a warship if its design and all the obvious weapons emplacements were not a dead giveaway. It was massive, as tall as the Destiny Ascension, if not taller, and half again as long as a Turian Dreadnought. But it was still only one ship.

"How did it get past all the fleet?"

"A great disk just appeared sirs. Right there, behind where that alien dreadnought is sitting." That bit of information unsettled everyone who heard it. Before they had assumed the alien's FTL allowed to travel outside the limits of the Mass Relays, but had assumed they had a limited range. This new information destroyed that notion. If these aliens could travel to wherever they wished, what was to stop them from reaching their homeworlds?

Meanwhile, on the UNSC Valiant-Class Super-heavy Cruiser, Kanchenjunga, Ambassador Dondle Udina watched the alien space station, the so called 'Citadel' with a disgusted face. "They call this their Citadel?" He said, sneering at it. "This place is barely twice as big as a CSO." Turning to face the holo-emitter, currently displaying the face of Fleet Admiral Lord Hood, he continued, "Damn it I shouldn't even be here! I know I'm the official ambassador but damn it, you know as well as I do that Dalton would be better suited for this! He's had more contact with the New Covenant since the end of the war than I have!" The UNSC had decided on a sort of blitzkrieg tactics for their initial retaliation against the Turians and Krogan. Utter decimation to show their power before attempting negotiations. If they asked why they were only coming here now, they would simply play coy and claim that they had discovered the Citadel when searching for other targets.

Hood raised his hand, "I know that ambassador but as of right now he has other duties that he must attend to. And that is precisely why he is not here. He knows the Covenant better than anyone else, but you know politics and dealing with non-humans. We need our best out there. Not to mention we may need him." The underlying message was clearly understood by both men. Nearly everyone and everything sent for these negotiations were to the UNSC, for all intents and purposes, expendable. The Kanchenjunga, the Valiant-series had remained unchanged since the Great War and would soon be phased out of the UNSC Navy and handed over to the CDF. The crew itself had no people that could not be replaced, as cruel as that may sound. Over the course of the Great War, Hood and many others of the UNSC HIGHCOM had to make many hard decisions, becoming easier as the war dragged on. This was simply another hard choice. Even the ambassador as he had a protégé ready to take over his position, or least was a candidate, for when he retired. "Record everything you can and sent it back to us. We'll be listening." With that Hood ended the link. The ambassador turning back towards the window and muttering under his breath, "Let's get this show on the road."

** Three Weeks since the events of Shanxi. Two weeks before UNSC arrival at the Citadel**

Krogan Empire Territory

Nith System: Planet Mantun

Hailot Garchek was a relatively young Krogan, having only recently finished his rite of passage on Tuchanka and signed up with the military. Despite all their advancements, both technologically and culturally, the Rite of Passage was still something deeply ingrained in both Krogan society and biology. Their blood would literally demand that they do this. After which however, many Krogan became what the Galaxy had come to accept as a normal citizen. Their military was still as powerful as before the Genophage as it was called. The scientist who had developed it, for some reason, believed the Krogan no longer deserved to survive. His virus would have wiped out the Krogan over time by their very own nature and the drastically reduced birth rate. Thankfully cooler heads had prevailed.

Currently he was stationed on the Hammer-Class Cruiser, The Caldron, as one of sensor station officers. The Caldron was one of many cruisers along with even more frigates and a dreadnought guarding the planet and its solar arrays. Overall there were over a hundred ships around the planet. The planet itself was both militarily and economically important. The solar arrays provided power to anti-proton production facilities on the planet. It alone provided the Krogan Empire's Navy with almost the entirety of its fuel. If it was lost, the cost to replace the arrays and/or the planetside facilities would be phenomenal. Not to mention the trade the planet brought for the Krogan as a good deal of its production was also sold to the rest of the galaxy.

In addition to the massive fleet in orbit around Mantun alone, the planet itself boasted several impressive planet-to-space mass accelerator cannons, far more powerful than anything fielded by any warship of the day, and these things were already centuries old. Making any, far as he was concerned, attack on the planet, suicidal. If just one of the massive storage unit of anti-protons was raided, the profits from such a raid would be enormous, but the cost in vessels and personnel turned off most would be pirates.

He leaned back, well as far as a Krogan could, in his chair. "Another cycle, another na-" Sirens started blaring across the ship. "What's going on!"

"All hands, general quarters! Detecting unknown anomaly. All hands prepare for combat." As Garchek readied his station he recalled the strange new orders that had been sent out by the Councilors themselves not too long ago. Apparently a Krogan and Turian patrol fleet had attacked the colony of an hitherto unknown species. 'By Kalros, that's one way to make an impression.' All military forces were to be ready for an imminent counterattack by these new species. These aliens didn't use the mass relays for long distance FTL, at least, they did not rely on them. They were able to travel to any location and their arrival was likely to be presided by a spacial anomaly. It was described as a great disk simply appearing in the vastness of space. Like,

Like was appearing just outside the range of the planetary guns. His display pinged as something began to exit from the disk. "Contact!" The vessel's design was not unlike the Krogan, all utilirian design for one purpose, war. "Reading one contact, cruiser-tonnage, no two, four, five, seven…" More and more pings came from his and that other sensor stations, when they stopped he readout the number. "Final count: twenty-five cruiser-tonnage warships. F-f-fifteen dreadnoughts, and…three vessels, measuring three times the length of the Destiny Ascension. And one," He paused, making sure the sensors were reading correctly, " His readout was heard loud and clear to everyone on the bridge. Dead silence reigned. The Treaty of Farixen limited the number of dreadnoughts each species was allowed to build and field, but thanks to the Krogan the number was incredibly high. However, the number of dreadnoughts actually in service was low, due to the cost in building, fielding, maintaining and supplying a vast number of dreadnoughts. That this new species had the capability of fielding so many cruisers and dreadnoughts was mind-numbing, but along with three, what were likely and essentially, super-dreadnoughts, the prospects were terrifying. And every single Krogan near the planet began to curse Torsk to the lowest levels of the pits for bringing such an enemy upon them.

The general was known to have the most ruthless, blood thirsty and warmongers amongst the Krogan as part of his crew and his army. They alone had, in one single bloody raid, had almost destroyed the reputation of the Krogan people permanently to a destructive, warmongering race. Torsk had been tasked to a raid of a pirate held planet on the Council Space/Terminus border. Rather than send in the Spectres, the Council had chosen for a rare display of their power. They had hoped to simply eradicate what they thought was a simple pirate base built into an asteroid. They were wrong.

The mined out asteroid was not simply a pirate base, but an entire city. An infant compared to the Citadel of the Terminus; Omega, but a city nonetheless. Filled with people, families, these may have been pirates but nonetheless, many of them were simply bystanders or related to the pirates. Torsk had learned of it the moment his fleet and dreadnought had appeared in system. The pirates had immediately called out a surrender and declared the nature of their population. Torsk simply ignored the calls, refused to report to Council and attacked. 'No' Garchek shook his head, 'attack means they had a fighting chance.' The pirates and every single citizen on the station had been slaughtered. There even evidence of consumption of other sentient species, but Torsk had passed it off as Varren having eaten the corpses of the pirates. Evidence said otherwise but due to the damage to the bodies, it had been circumstantial at best. After which, he had been sent to the boonies of Citadel space by the Krogan Empire Councilor, Urdnot Wrex, while he tried to save the reputation of the Krogan people before it was too late. Thankfully, he had been successful.

His console pinged, marking another contact. "Another contact, now making sixteen dreadnoughts!"

"They already have fifteen! What reason could they have brought this one in so late!" His commanding officer yelled. "Alert the planet and send a message to Tuchanka! Alien contact! Unknowns!"

"Sir, this one is different sir." Answering the question before it was asked, "This one, sensor reading it's incredibly thin sir. Projected mass readings put it at half of one our own dreadnoughts." That didn't make sense. Why build something so large, yet have it so thin? If it was a dreadnought, it would shatter after a single strike. "It's taking position at the rear of their," he paused, unsure what to call it, "armada." That at least was making sense. "Wait. Sir, the new contact, I'm reading a massive energy buil-*"

From the dreadnought length, thin vessel, its front flashed bright orange, interrupting Garchek midsentence.

A half second later, the communications on every ship guarding the planet squealed in an electronic scream as three cruisers, and six frigates were utterly obliterated. Even from what was a glancing shot, the kinetic energy of the shot completely shattered the superstructure of the warships as the massive fifteen hundred ton ferro-magnetic slug traveled at its intended target. One of the Solar-collection stations in orbit. What has left over tumbled end over end from the remaining kinetic energy. Gravity soon took over the remnants of the station soon were heading towards its first meeting with the ground.

On the Valiant-Class Superheavy Cruiser, Kilimanjaro, Vice Admiral Darius 'Devastator' O'Neill, watched with glee at the success of the UNSC's first Sovereign-Class Artillery Warship. It was essentially, a mobile Super MAC. With incredibly thin armor to still allow for reasonable mobility and construction costs, the vessel itself was a small test project. A test, which with one shot had just proven its worth. During the battle over Reach, a then unknown Old Covenant warship, later designated a supercruiser, from extreme range, used an immensely powerful energy projector to 'snipe' several ships. Since that battle, the UNSC had started plans to create a sniper vessel of their own.

The result was the Sovereign, the first vessel in both its class and designation. Though the fire rate was incredibly slow compared to orbital based S-MACs, and just slower than those other UNSC warships, it was still a force to be reckoned with. Its range was almost half again as that of an orbital station, but fired a much smaller slug. The Admiral grinned at the carnage the weapon had just wrought upon the aliens. The AI pad glowed and Constantine, the ship's Smart AI appeared, dressed in the customary garb of a Roman Legion Commander. "Well," Constantine began, "I think we sent a message with that."

"Not yet we haven't." The Vice-Admiral was known as one of the most ruthless in the upper circles of the UNSC Navy. His own actions during the Heretic Wars involved chasing down remnants and utterly annihilating them. Yet for all that, there was one other reason why they sent him specifically. He always followed orders. He may be a bit overzealous when it came to destroying his enemies, but, for the most part, he always followed his orders. Barring the rare event where said order was blatantly stupid or suicidal with no reward. With explicit orders to strike once, than call for surrender, they had sent him. Knowing he would follow his orders to the letter. "Hack their communications, fleet and system wide." When the communication officers gave him the ready he spoke.

"This is the UNSC Battle Group Andromeda. That was your warning shot. Shut down your engines and power down your shields and barriers. This is first and final warning. Surrender immediately or we will open fire."

Back amonst the Krogan defenders, the message from the Vice Admiral had been received in perfect Krogan, having been translated by Constatine as Darius spoke. Faced with an armada the size of which had not been seen since the Rachini wars, and firepower never dreamed of, for the first time in millennia, the Krogan Empire knew fear once again.

Apien Crest: Gemmae System: Planet Aepheus

The planet Aepheus was one of the largest shipyards in Turian space. It possessed a number of berths from which to produce ships. Capable of producing an immense number of ships, equal to that of the current Turian navy, had it the resources, power and personnel to do so, its facilities were more than capable. It was also the only one capable of producing dreadnoughts outside the Turian home system. Making it of great strategic importance to the Turians. The reason why there were dozens of ship in system guarding the planet. More were posted at the Relay but as of a day ago, a good number of ships had been repositioned from the Relay to the shipyards. Due to new intel from the Council of a new, potentially, and likely hostile, race that was capable of FTL travel that was not limited by Mass Relays.

Captain Mallon Vakarian, brother of the Garlon Vakarian, a high ranking C-Sec officer, watched the space around Aepheus with more than a hint of trepidation. Mere days ago the entire galaxy had been told of First Contact with a new species. And what could be only called the idiocy in which it was carried out. Torsk and Arterius. Two names that would, in all likelihood, would live in infamy for a time. Apparently the pair had destroyed one of the alien's, now presumed outdated, dreadnoughts, or least an analogue of one, and summarily laid siege to one of their planets. Then later were sent packing through the Relay. The only survivors had been Turian vessels, no Krogan vessels had returned.

Retaliation was more than likely imminent. They had received much of the same reports as the Krogan Empire had in terms of the alien's capabilities, which was why a large part of the fleet was focused around the planet, and not the Relay. After all, what good was positioning all your forces around a Relay if the enemy didn't even use them?  
He sighed. Perhaps, if he was lucky they would not-Alerts began going off all over the bridge, shaking the captain from his thoughts. "What's going on?"

"Spacial anomalies detected off the starboard bow! Energy readings from scanners match those sent by the Council!"

"All hands to general quarters! Get ready for a fight! And await further orders!" The Captain was certain he couldn't have been the only ship to have detected the anomalies. Looking at the holographic projections on the bridge, he saw other ships turning towards the anomalies. Those 'disks', for lack of a better term, were like beacons. The moment they appeared, everyone knew you were here. Unlike with Mass Relay travel where, unless someone was monitoring the Relay for power surges and the traveler was using the Relay, it was nearly impossible to detect when someone was coming through.

Meanwhile, the slipspace raptures grew in number and size, totaling at fifteen ruptures. As the last rapture boomed into existence, a ship began to exit from the first. This one, to the Turians, was alien in virtually every shape and form. The Turians had been told to expect ships not unlike the Krogan in design. Blocky, utilitarian, and obviously made for war. What they witnessed coming from the ruptures was anything but.

A bulbous front end emerged from the first portal, its hull a sleek silver rather than a dull black. Its design was something that no race ever designed. In fact it looked like at first glance, an oversized Hanar. As fun as the comparison was, no one was laughing. Especially considering what had come out of those portals. It possessed a slim slick body, with a narrow thin ring attached to the bottom of the ship. When the scanners measured its length based on shared readings from other ships, it was immediately classified as a dreadnought on their scanners.

After the first more exited the portals which snapped shut behind them. The numbers were displayed to every single ship's commanding officer. And it took all they had to not fall to their knees and weep when they had seen the numbers.

Twelve.

Twelve dreadnought-analogues had just appeared in front of them. That amount of fire power was more than enough to decimate the defending fleet, presuming they used mass accelerators. Turians still had their orbital and planetary defenses, a factor they prayed would help them win this battle, if with heavy casualties. "Spirits help us and guide us in this dire hour." The captain had bowed his head as he prayed to the Spirits for power, luck and fortitude to make it through this battle. When he looked back at the tactical display, he realized one portal had yet to close, and this one was bigger than the rest.

Now another vessel had begun to appear from the portal. Its front similar to those that come before, but lacking the ring and dual fins underneath its bow and one other difference. It was MASSIVE. Easily twice the length of the ships that had come before it. When the Turian scanners attempted to classify it, the ship was tagged as an unknown.

Meanwhile, on the CCS-Class battlecruiser The Purity of Spirit, Shipmaster Vas'l Terum watched his fleet and the defenders with his one good eye. A veteran of the Great War, he had earned the injury when a Human child, 'no, a young woman' he corrected himself, had appeared from behind him and fired at him with a stolen Carbine rifle. His shields had been down at the time as he was sent to inspect the troops when they had been sent to purge, no murder, the human population of a planet. He had no need for them. The radioactive isotope round had passed just above his eye, leaving a scar and destroying the eye.

He had immediately torn the young human apart with his bare claws. Since the Great Revelation, what many in the New Covenant called the message of the Oracle, he had worn the scar with pride of the human who had dealt him such an injury, and as penance for his sins against the humans. Since the Revelation, many had scars received on the battlefield removed and lost parts replaced with prosthetics and cybernetics. As a way to forget the crimes they had committed. But many, especially those of fieldmaster ranks and above and refused. Instead choosing to wear the scars as marks of penance, and not bravado.

The Purity of Spirit was his ship from the Great War also, and had served in many battles to aid the humans or in service to them. This assignment was another like it.

When the Alliance had called for volunteers to strike back at an enemy for attacking a human world, he and many others had answered. Vas' was simply the lucky one to be chosen.

His fleet consisted of a dozen, what the humans called SDV-class heavy corvette and his CCS-class battlecruiser. When he had asked why he had been granted such a small and comparatively weak force, especially considering how the corvettes possessed no shields, he was told of the enemy's weaknesses. Their shields could not defend against plasma strikes, at least, they would not hold up to them very well. Along with, their biggest ships possible being the cruisers and were only bigger than his corvettes by a few dozen or so of the human's 'meters'. That said, possibly announcing himself and the ships of his fleet may be enough to force a surrender. If not, he was to destroy the enemy forces that did not surrender, destroy all orbital and planetary stations and take control of the planet's orbit.

And see the meager force in presented to him, he was convinced his leaders had been right. This would be an easy fight. Though he would have preferred to have been accompanied by light-cruisers rather than the frigates. Granted, those ships were smaller but had the advantage of shield generators. The shipmaster signaled towards one of the Unggoy that was manning the communications station to open a comm. line to the defenders. Since the Great War, many strides had occurred regarding the military command structure and the military in general. When the Unggoy confirmed the link the shipmaster spoke.

"This is shipmaster Vas'l Terum of the Fleet of Glorious Fury abroad the cruiser Purity of Spirit. Surrender now or be destroyed." His jaws split into the Sangheili equivalent of a human smile. The shipmaster hoped they would open fire, for perhaps this way; he could repent for all the humans he had killed by fighting their battles with them. And he would not be disappointed.

**Aepheus: UNSC Kilimanjaro: Bridge**

"Constantine, any attempts of them trying to contact us?" Vice Admiral Darius 'Devastator' O'Neill asked. "I'm REALLY hoping you say no."

"Well," the AI gave the Vice Admiral a roguish grin, looking completely out of place on the Roman Legionary Commander. "Today is your day it seems Darius. Detecting energy spikes across all enemy ships and locations across the planet. Planetary defenses in all likely hood."

Darius turned towards Constantine's avatar. "It still won't save them, no matter how many guns they have." Looking out towards the planet again he started barking out orders. "Have the Sovereign stay here and take out as many targets as she can. Have the frigates Into the Day, Daybreak and Daywalker and Destroyers, Evening's Breathe and Falling Dusk stay back and keep her safe. We have more than enough ships for that. The rest of the fleet minus the carriers fall into their predetermined groups and engage the enemy. Have the carriers trail behind the main groups, launch fighters and bombers at their discretion. No one goes off on their own. Make sure that order is confirmed by all ships."

"Yes milord. All ships have confirmed their orders and formations. Tagging formations as A to E." On the tactical display, nine ships stayed back as the rest moved forward. The remaining thirty five ships divided into five different groups of seven ships, each group a mix of Halcyon(Grade-II) Heavy Cruisers, Montreal-Class Heavy-Frigates and Midway-Class destroyers, one included his own Valiant-Class Super Heavy Cruiser.

The UNSC forces may have been outnumbered here, one hundred ships plus orbital and planetside defenses to their thirty-five, but that number was quickly changing. Each cluster of ships fired en masse as they approached the planet. Taking out, three, four, half a dozen ships at a time, quickly changing the odds, using H-MACs and Archer missiles. The Vadrigos-Class three kilometer long carriers followed closely behind their more heavily armed fellows.

The defending ships attempted to enter FTL, their ships glowing an eerie blue, however, the glow faded and were forced to rely on normal engines to close the distance between them and the UNSC warships. This time, unlike at Shanxi, where the Eezo-based ships were at an angle to or heading towards the planet, the defenders had their backs to the planet, making it incredibly difficult, if not impossible to engage their mass effect drives with their pre-determined equations due to the planet's gravity pulling them back.

Still some managed to engage their FTL drives, instantly closing the distance between them, and the UNSC ships. Forcing the fight to where the UNSC could not use their MACs effectively if at all. It made little difference. The moment the Krogan ships had exited FTL and reappeared near the UNSC vessels, they were destroyed under a hail of autocannon fire. Some were shattered into thousands of pieces, others simply gone from overloading reactors, and a few lucky ones simply gutted through and through. The UNSC ships made their way to the planet, leaving behind a field of dead and broken metal in their wake. The three carriers followed close behind. Deploying fighters and bombers to take care of any enemy fighters and survivors.

"Enemy craft are being routed. Estimated fifty percent of enemy vessels to be destroyed." Constantine reported. Despite the high number of officers on the bridge, most of it was reported to the captain of the ship through the AI usually on any ship due to the sheer amount of information there often was.

"Are any craft attempting to leave the area?" Constantine nodded. On the display, several red dots were highlighted more so as the vessels they represented attempted to flee. "Redirect the carriers to establish a perimeter around the planet, send one of the attack groups with them. No ships, repeat no ships are to leave the area. Cripple their ships if you have to, just be sure to destroy them later. I want no survivors."

"Orders sent and confirmed received by all ships." On the tacmap, a few of the symbols representing the UNSC ships turned towards the fleeing alien ships. Within seconds of the confirmation of orders received every single enemy vessel attempting to flee was crippled, then summarily destroyed. "Casualties?"

"None. All UNSC ships stayed in formation. Prevented opposition from effectively concentrating fire. Frigates Sephora and Jarden from groups B and E report several blown shield generators."

"Have those groups hang back and search for any stragglers. All carriers stay in position. Have them start taking out those space stations and satellites."

"All remaining ships I want them to start taking their determined positions around the planet."

Following his orders, the remaining ships began to disperse. Taking positions at predetermined positions in orbit above the planet before commencing orbital bombardment with their broadside cannons.

At least, that had been the plan.

Faster than anyone expected, eight slugs streaked from the planet's surface. Eight out of the fifteen Halcyons(Grade-IIs) were rocked by the impact, their shields shattering against the force. Crews were slammed to the floors, walls and their workstations as their vessels were slammed by the rounds. Another ten followed and instantly eight Halcyons(Grade-II) with down shields were speared through and through by the planetary guns. The Kilimanjaro fared little better as his own ship was slammed by two rounds simultaneously. One of them passed clean through and through as the other buried itself inside the superstructure.

"REPORT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!? CONSTATINE!"

Said AI's avatar reappeared on the pedestal having been forcibly shutdown from the impact. "Reading as Mass Accelerator round, same force as one of INF-101s H-MACs. We were damned lucky to have survived it."

"Where the hell did those shots come from! Intel said they didn't have MACs like ours!"

Taking off his 'helmet' Constantine answered. "They don't, least not for their ships. Projectiles sourced from the planet. My guess is a massive planetary gun battery. Several likely. Calculating origin points and transmitting now."

"Have the frigates, destroyers and injured cruisers to pull back outside the range of those guns. Once that's done, slave the firing commands to my station for a single shot. I want each ship to load and aimed at one gun site each. Two for the bigger ones if we can manage it. Once it's done confirm and report to me."

The process took almost an hour to calculate the origins and likely positions then reposition and orient their ships. Once it was done, the Vice Admiral once again lived up to his name. Not even giving The command, he simply pressed the activation key.

With a single button, forty-four ships let loose a typhoon of fire in the form of just under MAC shots. All over the planet, mushroom clouds soon dominated the planet from the sheer kinetic energy striking the planet. Moments after firing, the UNSC ships, now with absolute impunity, began taking positions in orbit at locations across the planet. Each presenting as many of their autocannons towards the planet itself. And again, Vice Admiral Darius 'Devastator' O'Neill truly lived up to his name as he watched with indifference as fire rained on the planet. Tiny specks began to rise from the planet's surface: shuttles, fighters, private craft, all of them trying to flee the planet. Not one would make it. As soon as they were high enough in the air to be seen by autocannons ceased fire, retargeted and shot down the individual craft before returning to their bombardment.

By the time the UNSC vessels had left, nothing over two stories was intact on the planet, and nothing larger than a four-by-four meter plate of steel was still intact.

Just earlier, over the planet of Aepheus, the New Covenant battle group was battling the defenders. No, to battle would mean that it was an even fight. No, it was a slaughter. The heavy-corvette may not have possessed shield generators of its own, but its sheer mass was more than enough protection against these 'Turians'. He had yet to lose one ship and already the enemy fleet was little more than piles of flash-hardened metal.

Shipmaster Vas'l Terum just watched as another ship was wiped from reality by a plasma torpedo. The mass of energized gas disintegrating the ships before it as it traveled its path. His corvettes firing plasma round after plasma round, racking up kill after kill after kill. What few fighters squadrons of Seraphs he had sent out were now, if they were not before, all aces. Eliminating everything from enemy fighters, which were miniscule to the Seraphs, to what the humans labeled as corvettes and even some frigates.

The Turians gave as good as they could but this invasion had long since turned into a one sided slaughter. What was labeled as their cruisers and frigates had laid into corvettes only to receive a plasma broadside for their efforts. Even now the corvettes were finishing off the remaining defenders. A scant few were unmarred but for a few scorch marks and impact craters. Others were heavily damaged, plasma lines ruptured and emergency shielding established to preserve atmosphere. Two were too heavily damaged to serve again once they returned home. They had had their engines shattered to the point where the ship was more valuable as salvage then trying to replace components. Others would need some time in dry dock for repairs. However his own ship, the Purity of Spirit was completely unmarred thanks to its powerful shields. They had scarcely dropped ten percent, if that.

With the enemy defenders destroyed, it was time for the next part of the plan. The reason his ship was here. "Helmsman, order the corvettes to fall back to our current position. Begin moving us over the shipyards." With confirming nod, the helmsman began to guide the massive, five kilometer vessel in position. Put the orbital shipyards directly under its belly, and consequently, its main plasma battery.

"Shipmaster, we are in position. All batteries are ready to fire. Our corvettes are requesting for further orders."

Vas' sighed internally. He knew what his orders were. Eliminate the fleet, destroy the shipyards, and glass the planet. But he felt, in a word, conflicted. The humans, the True Children of the Gods, were being, he felt, irrational. Their actions being driven by grief and rage. And since the end of the Great War, it was not something we used to seeing in humans any more.

After the Great War, a large part of Humanity simply wanted to drive the Covenant to extinction for their actions, the genocide they had committed. And many of the more zealous believers were more than willing to do if demanded. Yet, it had been not. A great many more, despite all their anger and hatred, were willing to move on and leave the past behind. Somewhat forgiven, but never forgotten.

With the end of the Great War and the Great Purge thereafter, much of the Covenant and their capital, High Charity was in tatters. The station itself had been heavily damaged, and despite the efforts of the Hurgarok, millions would perish from the devastation. Due to decompression, starvation, disease. Those aboard High Charity could not be relocated. Their homes, the closest colonies were far away, and despite their speed, millions would still would have died relocation. Yet, at the Covenant's darkest hour, despite all the wrongs it had committed against Humanity, when the Covenant cried for help. Humanity answered. They provided the locations of worlds, garden worlds, humanity had long since left behind for richer worlds, but these few saved the population abroad High Charity. The act of mercy and kindness astounded all of the Covenant, and despite tense relations due to old feelings from the Great War, the two share a polite relation.

Now, regarding the orders of the Humans, it felt wrong. This can not be allowed to pass, or humanity will poison itself with regret for many years like the Covenant.

The helmsman asked a question, shaking Vas' from his thoughts. "Shipmaster, what are your orders sir?"

Vas' steeled himself. Knowing he would pay the price for his actions later on. But at the very least, humanity will not regret what could have been. "Charge up energy projectors and plasma lines. Crisscross pattern of fire across the shipyards. Leaving nothing standing. Send the corvettes towards the planet. Target their communications stations. Surgical strikes only. Once they are completed, have them return to their positions and prepare for slipspace entry."

"But shipmaster! What of the Humans! They ordered us to purify the planet!"

"I know. But we will not!" Vas' slammed a fist into a the command chair's armrests. "The humans are currently driven by their rage and their grief. They desire what we did when we first fought them so many years ago. I refuse to allow the Humans to become what we once were! Genocidal demons who slaughtered all in their path for a chance at glory or revenge!" Calming himself, he continued. "We must remind them of the mercy they once showed us. And pray that they remember that they are not the Covenant of Old." As Vas' finished his pseudo-speech, not one sentient being commented or decried his actions. The helmsman simply relayed the orders and began issuing firing commands.

Within moments, lances of burning white energy and plasma beams began to cut into the orbital structures. Cutting through clean as a heated blade through grease. The cut edges white hot from the energy for a single moment before being flash-cooled by the vacuum of space. Great rifts and cuts began to appear. Large sections began to float away, cut free, or simply gone. Lost from the heat and energy poured into the metal. Across the planet, corvettes fired a single plasma round before heading back towards the Purity. Their targets, once structures capable of sending and receiving messages from the void, were turned into puddles of molten rock and metal.

As the last of the shipyards were destroyed, the Purity of Spirit and its escorts left the system.

The jobs of the warriors was done for now.

It was the politicians' turn now.

Current Time: Citadel

Presidium: Council Chambers

"You want us to what!" The Turian Councilor yelled, not believing what this, upstart just demanded of him and his people.

Udina simply stared back at the councilor. The Ambassador understood every word being said thanks to the updated translation package uploaded to his neural link. When the Turians and Krogan had invaded Shanxi, an AI from De La Rosa's battlegroup had managed to hack into their ship's systems. The AI had not assisted with the battle, taking whatever technical and other data they can. The only things they left behind were communications and personal information. Languages, tech designs and something called a Codex was taken by the UNSC AIs. That same data was what allowed the UNSC Ambassador, flanked by a four-man ODST squad to understand the aliens. When he spoke, the neural link assisted him in converting his words into the main Turian language, through his vocal implant. Vocal implants were standard implants among all UNSC/UEG personnel who had to deal with non-humans on a constant basis, allowing them to 'speak' in a different species' primary language.

Now here he was, 'negotiating' with the 'Citadel Council'. It took all Udina had not to sneer at the four standing on the platform above him. These four were like the Prophets or San'Shyum they had read about in the History of the Old Covenant, or the brutal monarchies of old from Earth, or even corrupt colonial governments.

Four individuals with more power than was right, and virtually nothing to stop them from exercising it however they wished. At least, that was how it appeared to Humanity. The Alliance leaders already knew what was to happen. They would demand reparations to the fullest extent or they would take it. Granted they would try to play nice but knowing the fact that they, both Humanity and Covenant would be seen as little more than 'Children', by a collective of species whose oldest members have been traveling the stars for over three millennia. They would not allow themselves to be played.

Clearing his throat, Udina spoke. "You heard me Councilors. We want total reparations in material for the damages incurred by your species for the attack on our colony. And we want those who were present in the attack to be handed over to us to stand trial for various war crimes."

"And what of your attacks on our worlds?" Wrex demanded. "Are we supposed to just take the damage you inflicted upon us?"

Udina resisted the urge to smirk as he answered, "Those attacks were something that were beyond our control. Separatist factions exist in our society, and upon hearing of the attack our colony, took it upon themselves to take retribution." The ambassador was lying through his teeth but they didn't know that. It was true that the Insurrection was still alive albeit a mortally wounded beast but it still existed, and the Remnants were indeed still around. This new strategy was one he had created with members of HIGHCOM just as he was leaving the Kanchenjunga . "We apologize for the lives your people have lost but we will render what aid we can to rebuild what has been lost at the very least." And if this Council accepted their terms, the Alliance would hold their end of the bargain. The damage they had wrought was simple enough to replace, they could do it in the span of months thanks to various factors such as the Hurgarok and a few Forerunner technologies.

Rage appeared clear as day on Teranus's, the Turian Councilor's face. "How dare yo-" But he was stopped when Tevos raised her hand, interrupting him. When he turned to face her, Tevos gave him a withering glare, cowing the much younger Turian. Turning her attention back to Udina she spoke. "Ambassador, please understand. What you are asking us, is far too much to give. We can, over time, perhaps give reparations for the material damage done to your colony." She paused, taking a breath. "However, asking us to hand over our people, even if it is to stand trial for war crimes. We simply cannot do that."

"Then I am afraid we have reached an impasse." Udina said while giving a slight nod. "Our people cry for blood Councilors, everyone is. Your commanders have destroyed what was the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity after decades of war. No generation exists that does not desire war. At the very least give us your commander. All the Krogan who invaded our world are dead. Now we desire the one who brought your people in the first place at the very least."

Tevos sighed, lowering her head. In all her life, never before had she to endure something like this. A new species who's even rogue factions possessed firepower and technology far and beyond anything in existence. Rivaling or perhaps surpassing the Asari, and perhaps on some level with the Protheans. The utter devastation left behind at the two planets was proof of that. If the Asari fleet had tried to same attack to the same effect, they would have won, but would have lost a great deal of their standing navy. Looking towards Teranus she spoke in a tired voice. "Teranus, you must-"

"No!" Slashing the air with his talons. "The Turians Hierachry will not be cowed by these, these CHILDREN! We will not-what?" Teranus was interrupted from his rant by the sound of raucous laughter. Its source, the five humans in the Chamber, the loudest among them was the ambassador himself.

Calming himself, the ambassador made a show of wiping a tear from his eye. "Oh, ho. It's been a while since I laughed like that." Return to a more professional posture, he directed his words to anyone listening. Civilians had been allowed in the chamber, and it was even more packed thanks to news of a 'new species that beat down the Turian and Krogan.' "Humanity, are indeed, as you say 'children' when compared to you, perhaps. After all we have only been a space faring civilization for a few centuries. However, this is our second ascension."

Of all the people in the Chamber, only the Salarian Councilor, Tevos and few others reacted to the last two words. "S-s-second ascension you said?" Valdn asked. "W-w-what do you mean by that?" He, along with everyone else in the room who knew of the weight of those two words hoped they were wrong.

Udina first cleared his throat before speaking. "This is the second time Humanity has risen from its homeworld and taken to the stars. Taking into account our time during our first ascension, Humanity has traveled the stars for close to three hundred millennia, three hundred thousand years. Our time is barely a drop in that span. Humanity itself as a species was 'birthed' by a species we know only as the Precursors. A race that could literally form entire solar systems and engineer entire species. We were one of two children. Until they were destroyed by our brothers, the Forerunners. Much of our history has been lost, but we know this. Our people once held the power to create entire worlds, literal planets, wherever we so desired. The power of galaxy at our finger tips." It was here the Ambassador paused before he continued. "We don't know how, or why. But some millennia after the fall of the Precursors, Humanity found itself at war with the Forerunners. Already weakened by a conflict history has forgotten, we lost the war. We were devolved to a shadow of our former selves just over a hundred thousand years ago." Look straight at Teranus, Udina's voice held no malice, but pity. "So yes, we are 'children' but we are quickly remembering who we were."

Teranus looked towards his fellow councilors for support. But was meet with pity by Tevos, fear by Valdn and indifference from Wrex. Regaining his Turian pride he yelled, "It does not matter what their history is! They are still primitives, and even if they are not, the Hierarchy will prevail."

"With what?" Udina asked. "You need a pack of ships to take down even one of our destroyers, let alone a cruiser."

Many decades after this meeting, when questioned what exactly drove his actions on that day, Teranus will still have no answer. In a fit of rage and arrogance he declared. "Not for long! The Hierarchy has captured one of their ships. We found it orbiting the moons of one of our planets." After the events of Aepheus. The Hierarchy had scattered a large part of its navy not centered in the home system to its holdings. Even planets that had long since been forgotten by all except the maps themselves, planets so insignificant in the eyes of the Hierarchy, there had not been a ship near some of these planets since their claiming. Around one of the more isolated planets, they had discovered a, then unrecognized alien vessel, the size and tonnage of a dreadnought. Now though, Teranus knew what it was. "The ship we captured is one of your greater warships." At Udina's smirk, he added the killing blow. "An exact copy of the one you came in on."

At those words, the blood of the human's ran cold. The Valiant-Class super-heavy cruiser was a class created during the Great War. Throughout the entire war, every single UNSC ship has been labeled accounted for, bar a few dozen. But there was only one, just one, Valiant-Class cruiser. After critical analysis of the Battle of Psy Serpantsis, The Everest, and all those aboard it, were reclassified as MIA. Cole had been given up for loss but, this…there were no words. But Udina wasn't a reckless man. Least not normally. With a calm totally opposite of how he truly felt, he asked. "Are you certain that it is one of ours?" His voice cracked at the end, but it was unnoticed by Teranus as he, using the central projector in the chamber, displayed a holo of said ship. And on its side, though slightly scratched by battle and age, could clearly be read. 'Everest'. "And where is this ship now?" In his arrogance, Teranus proudly stated it to be near Palaven. "Councilor, if you value the lives of your life, the lives of your family and people. You will surrender that vessel to the UNSC. Now."

Teranus leaned forward and uttered, "No."

The instant he heard Teranus reponse, he opened a comm. link to the cruiser, and ordered a wide-range broadcast. "To any alliance ship that hears this message. The Everest has been found! I repeat. THE EVEREST HAS BEEN FOUND! ALL SHIPS! MOVE IN ON PALAVEN!" Turning back to the Councilors he gave a second command. "Sapphire team. Take. Take. Take."

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of snapping and pops as the cloak fields of a squad of Spartan super-soldiers, II, IIIs and IVs all shutdown, two to a Councilor and three for Wrex and all but one with a MA6-A series rifle aimed at them. Teranus had an M95 shotgun barrel pressed against the back of his head and an MA6-A. The last thing any of them saw was the butt of a gun slammed into their face, or in Wrex's case, three and a fist.


	10. UNSC: Returning the Favor

Alternate Past Uncertain Future Mk II

Chapter 10

A Hero's Return, A people's Fury

A/N: Credit to the ProfFartBurger, yes that is his username, for writing the 'package' detonation scene. Go to his page on fanfiction and check out his stories, Hearing the Call, which is one hell of a SI/OC story, and I've read quite a few and possibly one of the best ME AU stories on this site, The First War. Trust me my readers, if you like this story, you will like his.

Unbetaed and unedited. Sorry about that, but I just finished this and wanted to get this out ASAP. Please alert me to any errors, plot holes, tech errors etc etc, and I will either correct you and tell why that is for my story or thank you and correct me.

Next stories to be updated: New Arrivals V2, Delayed Arrivals and Mass Effect: inFamous The Second Coming in that order.

UNSC Super-heavy Cruiser Kanchenjunga

Trebia System: Home solar system of the Turians

Trebia is considered by the Council and non-Council species as the most heavily fortified and defend system in the Galaxy after the Serpent Nebula.

Least it had been until four hours ago. Now it held a new title: the first Councilor-species homeworld to be held under siege. Four hours ago, slipspace ruptures had begun to tear themselves into existence all over the system. And ships had come bursting from these ruptures, the first were UNSC Hermes-class corvettes. The smallest capital-ship in the UNSC fleet. Within the first hour of the ambassador's message, over two dozen UNSC corvettes had entered the system, some in formation, the others in disarray. And more kept pouring in, all of them scattered throughout the system, some of them at its borders, others in the gravity wells of planets and a rare few appearing directly inside ship formations.

The moment the UNSC ships had entered the system they had opened fire on every target they could see, regardless of their own self-preservation. The day after Shanxi had been liberated by its invaders, the star charts that had been recovered from the alien warships had been distributed to all of UNSC Navy. The moment that every UNSC had heard the message, every ship spent a half minute relaying the message to all within their range before heading with all speed towards the Turian Homeworld of Palaven. Many had scoffed at the foolishness of this new species. Had they possessed something like the UNSC's Cole Protocol it would like have taken them months, if not years to find the Turian's origin system. Now thanks to the folly of the Turians, they were approaching within days after the 'war' began.

The first to arrive were the corvettes of the UNSC and CDF, blazing aside in slipspace past their larger cousins, thanks to their engines, both upgraded to incorporate the latest innovations in slipspace technology given by the Covenant. Within minutes of the corvettes arrival, dozens of turian frigates and cruisers were reduced to burning wrecks and dead hulks of metal as they were destroyed by volley after volley of Archer missiles. L-Type MAC shells were fired by the newer corvettes, slamming into the barriers of the Turian ships, shattering those of smaller warships and peeling away their armor in a blaze of tungsten-magnesium fire, and splattering across the barriers of the cruisers, creating a beautiful display of pyrotechnics. The Turian fleet quickly turned on these new arrivals, their focused fire quickly crippling and outright destroying the thinly armored corvettes, penetrating both shields and hulls, many of those closer to the turian warships self-detonating in an effort to take out as many as them can in martyrdom. At first it had been going well. The number of ships in the turian home fleet meant that their concentrated fire tore through the shields and armor of the corvettes with little issue.

Then it all went to hell.

Unnoticed by either side was a slight shimmer in the darkness of space: a tell-tale sign of an active camouflage system. Its source: the UNSC Apollo-class Prowler, Shattered Light. On board the ship, the entire system and the battles taking place were displayed in the bridge as a real-time 3D holographic projection. "This is madness." Navy Captain Dalia Artmova muttered as she analyzed the images. And indeed it was. The Turian fleet was in complete disarray. Though they were showing concentrated efforts against the UNSC corvettes, many floated dead in space, unsure of what to do. Others began to move in one direction only to shift to a random tangent the next and many more times thereafter.

Perfect.

"Status on our cloak?"

"Board shows all green. All emitters and heat sinks are engaged and in the green. We're cold as space ma'am."

"Status on our nukes? Are the engineers ready with the 'package' yet?"

"Engineer's report 'package' will be prepped in five minutes. Repeat five minutes."

The 'package' had been placed on her ships several days ago and identical 'packages' had been stored on several other Prowlers like hers. She had strict orders not to deploy the 'package' without specific and direct orders from the Alliance highcommand and confirmation codes. Most if not all aboard the Prowlers knew, at the very least, the nature of the 'packages' if not what they were outright.

But once they had heard of the discovery of the Everest being on the Hunter's homeworld,'the new ones to receive the label, and not the Mglekgolo' she reminded herself. Though after Shanxi, when they had sent fleeing to their mothers with their tails between their legs, some had started giving these new aliens, other, less fearsome names. One that made her, and indeed many others laugh was 'kittybird'. How someone came up with that name she would never know. But damn if it was catching on. Several others were also, but she couldn't remember them.

But that was unimportant, she thought. Remembering the real reason why they had come here. To bring back the greatest hero humanity has ever had and to bring him, and his crew, back home. Many disregarded the fact that he had faked his death at the battle of Psy Serpentis. What they remembered and cared about, was the time Cole had bought humanity with his victories, the lives he had saved, and the hope he had given.

And now it was time for him to come home. And every single human being in the Alliance would be damned if some idiotic second-hand primitives who thought they were the guardians of the galaxy tell them otherwise. "Aires, which one of these worlds is their homeworld?" She paused as another two corvettes, the new 'Pony Express' and the 'Hermes' began flashing red as their engines and various internal systems began to shut down before they disappeared entirely from the display. Outside, their real-world counterparts detonated in balls of nuclear fire as the crews initiated their self-destructs. The Turian ships had hoped to claim another of the UNSC ships, as the secret of the capture of the 'human' dreadnought, as the Everest was seen by the Turians was now public knowledge. The UNSC crews, in a last act of defiance, would deny the enemy their prize. But this worried the captain; the Hunters were getting coordinated, organized. She couldn't have that. "Mark which world has the greatest military infrastructure after their homeworld.

On the AI platform, an image of a late-era Greek commander wearing periodic armor, Aires, appeared. "It is done milady." On the display, the battle shrunk considerably as two planets were included in the display. "The first is their homeworld of Palaven. Alliance command has ordered that the planet is to remain unharmed at all costs until the arrival of the INFs."

"INFs? As in plural? They finished the sister ships?"

"Confirmed. INFs UNSC Dawn of Man and UNSC Ascendancy are en-route to Palaven." The bridge became deathly silence at the news. "ETA in three hours." Returning back to the display, one of the planets, the fourth in the system was highlighted in red. "This planet possesses the most military infrastructure after Palaven and from my readings, it is also sending out a majority of the broadcast signals to the Hunters' ships. It is most likely their primary planetary command center outside their homeworld."

A feral grin crept across Dalia's face. "Excellent." This gave her a target. If she took out these command centers, then the Hunter armada would be once again in disarray. The increase of subordinates on the homeworld command would ensure that it lasted for a while. Perhaps even long enough for the INFs or at the very least, the cruisers to arrive. "Aires, find us a drop site for the 'package' on that planet." She turned, looking at every single person on the bridge, including the AI. "I understand if anyone here has a quarrel with what I am about to do. What I will order all of you to. Should be tried, I will take the blame. However, do not try and stop me. If any of you truly have issue with what is about to occur, I ask you to leave the bridge and report to you quarters. You will be confined there until we return to an Alliance world." As she finished, she found herself being meet with surprise, fear, hesitation, outright anger and finally conviction. As she waited, one stood. A young woman who was in charge of communications. Followed by another, a young man, in charge of one of the sensor stations. Followed by three more men and women. When the five looked towards their fellow crew members, who barely shifted from their stations, they were meet with anger and fury. But when they meet the eyes of their captain, they found only acceptance. "I understand. This is not an easy decision and I will not hold it against you." The five snapped off perfect salutes before leaving the bridge. "As for the rest of you, I thank you all for standing by me. Now, let us bring peace to the departed."

On the Turian Dreadnought, the Triumphant Spirit, Admiral Canius Garnerin, was enraged. No, he was infuriated. "Damned by the spirits how is this happening! How the hell did these bastards get past our defenses!" His dreadnought shook as the main cannon fired again and again. Each shot striking the frigate-sized 'human' warships. "By the spirits these 'humans' are idiots. Attacking our home system with frigates. Crewmen, any orders from Impera?" Another 'frigate' cracked and was split in half, bringing the Spirit's kill count up to five.

"Yes sir. Orders are being sent to form attack squads and destroy the 'human' vessels as they appear. Sir I-wait one sir." After an extended pause, before Canius could demand what was being said, the crewman shouted. "SIR! Impera command reports they've detected a stealth ship leaving the planet, radiological emissions being detected from the planet and the ship!"

Back on the Prowler, Dalia cursed as one of the officers in charge of the stealth systems reported they had been compromised. Apparently one of the Hornet-class nuclear mines had a cracked casing, causing radiation to leak out. They had dumped it along with the 'package' but the damage was done. Their stealth was rendered moot as the radiation on the hull made them a clear target on anyone's sensors. "Helmsman! Full speed! Get us away from the planet ASAP! Aires, tell me once we reach minimum safe distance for detonation. Drop the damn cloak if you have to! Nav, get a slipspace coordinate set prepped, Cole Protocol! Someone tell engineering to get ready to jump-heat the slipspace drive! "

Back on the Triumphant Spirit, they and many other Turians watched, their mouths agape as they saw a ship, angular and shaped like nothing they had seen before appear in a shattering of hexagonal pattern. "Spirits, active camouflage. Just who are these people?" Canius whispered before he remembered where he was. "Plot an intercept course! I want that ship crippled and in our possession before we even reach it!" With those orders the Triumphant's engines flared a bright white as it was pushed to its limits in an effort to pursue and capture the 'human' stealth ship. In the Admiral's mind, he had become focused solely on the 'human' ship and its capabilities. And it's potential in the Hierarchy's possession. 'If we capture that ship, Turian military dominance will be secured for decades if not centuries.' It would be his last act as captain of the Turian dreadnought, Triumphant Spirit.

In the blink of an eye, the surface of Impera was changed forever. A micro-star was birthed for an instant, and with it nuclear fire bathed the planet. With an ear-shattering roar, the Shattered Light's NOVA Bomb detonated.

The NOVA Bomb was, in essence, the single strongest explosive known to mankind. It contained nine fusion warheads, contained within lithium triteride armor. Upon detonation, the shell focused the blast, in upon itself, thus multiplying its explosive magnitude and raw power, a hundredfold. The UNSC had only ever once purposely deployed the NOVA Bomb, and the resultant explosion had resulted in the end of the second insurrection before it began. The first true detonation of the NOVAs was in orbit of the planet Joyous Exultation, incinerated a Covenant fleet, shattered a nearby moon, burned half of a planet, and bathed the rest of the planet in so much radiation, that it was forever rendered inert, and unable to sustain Human or Covenant life; the only other equivalent to the Nova's Power, was the Covenant's process of Planet Glassing, which, unlike the NOVA, had been used on hundreds of human worlds during the course of the Human-Covenant war.

The NOVA's power had become the stuff of legend, in the UNSC, and it had quickly gained the nickname 'The Planet Killer'. When the Shattered Light's NOVA had detonated, it truly lived up to its nickname.

The shockwave could be seen through the vacuum of space, as it almost literally parted Impera's atmosphere, as it raced towards its surface. The Planet itself could be seen shaking, not even a moment after the shockwave slammed into it. Enormous fissures and cracks in the ground began forming as the planet literally started to shake itself apart. But the damage being wreaked by the NOVA didn't end there; the heat wave - traveling only slightly slower than the shockwave - quickly expanded, and one could literally see the progress it made, as it traveled across the planet. The heat wave literally turned the surface of the planet black as it traveled across. The planet continued shaking and burning, and as the fireball from the nuclear explosion reached the planet's gaseous atmosphere, was when the real 'beautiful' part occurred.

In future generations, many would comment on the horrifying beauty, of a planet's atmosphere being set ablaze, but to those who were in the battle, as the Human bomb detonated, it was the single most horrifying thing they could witness. The atmosphere was literally being lit ablaze, the blue-white flames leading the white-orange inferno as the atmosphere cooked the planet it was encircling. For an entire sixty three seconds, the planet's atmosphere cooked and burned, as the planet within it shook and fractured. After a final two minutes passed, the planet couldn't take it anymore.

The planet finally shook itself apart, breaking into dozens of enormous pieces, and soaring away, through the void of space. The burning atmosphere almost immediately fizzled out of existence as the continent-sized chunks of planet flew away from its old position. The molten materials from the planet's core seemed to be its last vestige of existence, but that too ended up being defeated by the NOVA, as they flew away from their original position and began cooling in the vacuum of space.

Even the ship near the NOVA, the Triumphant Spirit, couldn't escape the bomb's wrath, the heat wave incinerated the crew inside, and the metal of the ship was literally rendered bright red as the heat wave passed over it. The engine overheated almost as soon as the wave passed over it, and just a moment later it exploded, tearing the ship apart.

The Shattered Light escaped with a whisper into the protective void of slipspace, forward into the realms of immortality and history.

Back on the Citadel, Galactic Society had already once been upheaved by the arrival of humanity and what they had done at Aepheus and Mantun. But this, this was unprecedented in the entirety of their history.

The four Councilors, who were some of, if not arguably the most powerful people in Galactic Society, had just been taken hostage. Spartan Squad Sapphire, ODST squad Hades and Ambassador Udina had since escorted the four from the Council chambers and were on-route back to the Kanchenjunga.

Least that had been the plan.

Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-II Isaac-039 ducked as his shields were drained to a quarter as it took damage from at least three dozen automatic weapons. "God damn it! Where the hell did all these bastards come from!" Reloading his MA6-C series Assault rifle before popping off and letting off several bursts, each taking down another of the airborne 'cars'.

Ensign Spartan-III Mark-G258 fired off a triple tap from his M400 Designated Marksmen Rifle, the depleted uranium, armor-piercing, linear-accelerated rounds literally cutting off the heads of three aliens with each shot. "This is their 'Citadel' dummkopf. I think we can expect a massive police force here." He shot off another triple tap, earning three more kills. "Sir." He added an afterthought.

"Either way, we need to get out of here." Commander Spartan-III A259 looked from the pair and at his commanding officer. "Our orders sir?"

Captain Spartan-II John-117 examined what became a battlefield moments after they had left the elevator to the Council chambers. Evidently, these 'Councilors' had something tied to their bio-signs and someone recognized when the four had been knocked unconscious and raised the alarm. Leading to what was called the 'Presidium' into a warzone. Literally hundreds of what they assumed to be law enforcement had swooped into the area.

They were of little issue. Their weapons could not penetrate the Spartan's shields without massed fire and even then, they still had a difficult time penetrating the armor itself. The ODSTs own shield generators and BDUs meant the same for them however it took considerably less than it took take down a Spartan's shields than an ODST's. They had rightfully assumed their armor and shields could easily stand up to whatever these 'Council races' small arms they possessed. Something they had all noticed was that, of all of those who had come to stop them, they had yet to see any of those that had attacked Shanxi.

But they had gotten careless, forgetting about the one human member of their party who was without armor. Udina. The Citadel forces had opened fire on the group while they had been out in the open, traversing the area. A the massed fire had drained the shields of several of the Spartans before they could take down several of the airborne vehicles several of the aliens were firing from. Isaac now had a cracked visor from a high-power rifle shot and Udina had been struck by a round that had ricocheted off a Spartan's armor. They had patched him up with bio-foam and synth-flesh patch but if they didn't get back to the Kanchenjunga, the ambassador was going to die. The round itself, if not being acting similar to a hollow-point wasn't bad enough: flattening on impact and tearing through ambassador's insides, the bullet itself was slowly poisoning him. A nanite-inject had slowed the poisoning but it hadn't stopped it. To make matters worse was that three of his Spartans and all of the ODSTs were out-of-action because they were forced to carry the unconscious Councilors. It had been agreed that having several of their party out of action being forced to carry them was a far better option than constantly worrying that the hostages, each who had at least a quarter of their lifetime if not more in combat and special-operations would take them down from behind and thus constantly forced to watch them.

"We need to move now. The Councilor is bleeding out and the Kanchenjunga had to call in the contingency." The contingency had been the UNSC Era of Retaliation, six Halcyon(Grade-II) Heavy-Cruisers and three UNSC operated CAS-Class Covenant Assault Carriers; the ships were just a few of the ships that had been gifted to them by the Covenant in the early months after the Heretic Wars as reparations for the war and as thanks. "The fleet doesn't have a problem but they want us there before they have to start shooting civilians. Kalimya, what's the fastest way out of here?"

"I've hacked into their systems and plotted the several paths back to the Kanchenjunga." Kalimya was the 'Smart' AI that had been tasked to John after the Heretic Wars, her younger 'sister' Cortana having been assigned temporarily to the Era for the Op. "Several require us to traverse enemy-held territory. I suspect we'll expend more than eighty percent of our munitions fight through. Others will take longer but we will encounter less enemy resistance."

"And the best route?" He asked. Kalimya had a little quirk she shared with Cortana. When asked to provide a solution, they usually provided several, the first few being ridiculous or difficult. While holding back the simplest and often best, solution.

"We request a pelican flight to our position. Provided they have an escort and are cleared a path, the Era can have a Pelican en route with an ETA of ten minutes from departure from the Era. Total estimated time to extraction as thirty minutes."

"Do it. For the rest of you," turning towards the others, "let's move to that area. We're going to hold on here until evac arrives. Make your shots count."

A chorus "Sir!" answered back.

"Captain!" He recognized the voice, Commander Spartan-II Fred-104. His 2IC. "We got incoming!" Looking towards where Fred was pointing, he was Hunter, or rather Turian dropships.

"Get the ambassador and the HVTs inside that structure now! Spartans, take them down!"

Soon the air was filled with the sound of weapons fire. The bullets themselves didn't do much against the dropships themselves, but forced them away to find a safer landing zone lest their passengers be slaughtered the moment the doors open. Ensuring that the humans and their 'cargo' were safe as they transferred.

The doors themselves offered no resistance as they piled in. "Kalimya, jam the door behind us."

The doors closed and with a series of clanks, the doors locked. "Done. Only heavy-duty gear could cut through that now."

"Good, now we-

"Excuse me, but may I ask who you are?" Faster than anyone expected, almost a dozen rifles were aimed at the single figure who greeted the Spartans, an asari, who surprisingly showed no fear at so many weapons being aimed at her. "I'm sorry for startling you. But can you please lower your weapons. As long as you are here, no one inside will harm you."

John stepped forward, lowering his rifle and signaling the others to do the same, but kept their rifles pointed in the asari's general direction. "Who are you? And what is this place?"

"My name is Neliana, and these are the chambers of the Consort."

"Consort?" One of the ODSTs yelled. "You saying we're in some sort of whorehouse? Damn I-OFH!" The ODST found himself flying backwards into his fellow ODSTs, causing them to pile up in mess of limbs and bodies. By the time the rifles were reraised on Neliana, the biotic glow was already fading and she was bowing at the hip.

"My apologies, I, nor anyone else here will offer any resistance but please refrain from speaking ill of the Consort. We-One moment please." She pressed a hand against the side of her head. "Yes Milady. Very well milady." Turning her attention back to the humans who were still aiming their rifles at her, she focused on John specifically. "The Consort wishes to meet with you sir. I promise that for as long as you and your friends stay here, you will not be harmed."

Switching off his external speakers, John asked, "Kaliyma, tell me what you know of this 'Consort'. Can we trust her?"

"Searching. I think we can. The Consort has quite the reputation here, as many things. As both a 'comforter' and as an advisor. She's gained quite the reputation as a person of her word and of great wisdom and insight. We can trust her Sir."

"Understood." Turning on the team comm. including the ODSTs and Udina, "Listen up. I'm going to see this 'Consort'. The rest of you stay here, keep an eye on the VIP and HVTs." Before any of them could protest he added, "That's an order." Turning back on his external speakers, he turned back to Neliana. "Take me to her."

Bowing again she said, "Follow me please." The rest of the team, though uneasy, stayed as they watched their commander walk towards what may very well be a trap.

Passing by what was obviously a waiting room, aside from other asari dressed similarly to Neliana, the place was empty. Soon John found himself in a more opulently designed room and a single asari waiting inside, her back to him. "Thank you Neliana, you may leave now."

Neliana bowed. "You're welcome milady." Leaving soon after.

"Who are you?" John asked. He had since replaced his rifle on his back but his hands still rested on the two M9 caseless munitions firing SMGs on his hips. "Why give us amnesty? Why did you ask for my presence?"

"In order, my dear soldier." Turning to face John who, despite what his augmentations had done to his sex drive, pelt a tang of desire upon seeing her. "My name is Shai'ra, the Consort as many of come to call me. The reason I offered protection for you and your fellows is for you alone. As for why I asked for your presence, there is something about you that compelled me to meet with you."

"For what purpose? If this is a delaying tactic it will not work. Make no mistake, my team and I will be leaving with the targets."

"You misunderstand me. I have no intention of attempting to stop any of you. I have no desire to see myself or any of my girls dead." Stepping towards the Spartan Captain she attempted to place a hand on him, being stopped just shy of his armor by shields. "There is something about you soldier. The path that you have taken, it is one far different than that fate had ordained. A destiny forgotten, a legacy gone. And yet, fate has not yet finished playing its hand. Be wary soldier. For the trials you have faced, will pale in comparison of what is to come. The Legacy that you carry within, the culmination of your people, will be your key to victory."

"What are you-"His radio crackled, the signature telling him it was Fred. "Go Fred."

"Sir, extraction has arrived."

"Understood, on my way." Turning his attention back to the Consort, she had already stepped away.

"Go soldier. I have a feeling this meeting will not be our last."

With that she turned around, and the Spartan hesitated a split second before doing the same.

The moment they boarded the Pelicans, they had made a beeline to the cruiser, surrounded by the imposing masses of the UNSC warships, the UNSC operated Assault-carriers been long since repainted gunmetal grey to differentiate it from New Covenant ships. The moment the pelicans had boarded the Era, slipspace ruptures emerged and the UNSC vessels were soon engulfed in chaotic energies as they left the Citadel and moved with all haste towards Palaven.

Back in Turian's origin system, the tide had begun to turn as the UNSC's and CDF's frigates and destroyers began to arrive and began to tear into the Turian Home Fleet's ranks with the MAC cannons and Archer missiles. Turian frigates and cruisers numbers dropped under the barrage, even as disorganized as the human warships were, appearing randomly much like the corvettes that had arrived before them, humanity's experience in the theater of war began to shine. For every one ship the humans lost with the arrival of the frigates and destroyers, the Turians lost ten.

Alongside the UNSC and CDF ships other vessels of obvious human design began to appear: private vessels, civilians, both private military and any civilian ship ranging from private craft to cargo haulers began to appear in the Turian's system. The PMC(Private Military Corporation) ships began to open fire alongside their state counterparts. The MAC shots of the private warships aimed at the bow, unlike the solider tungsten-carbide rounds or even tungsten-magnesium rounds of the UNSC and CDF ships, penetrated the barriers and hulls of the turian ships, tunneling through decks, armor and turians before internal sensors detected the reactor of the ships and detonated. The Archer missiles of the PMCs doing the same as the MAC shots: keying into the strongest energy source and locking on before boring their way to the targets and detonating in such a way to cause a wildcat destabilization of the ships' reactors, destroying them and any others caught in the ball of nuclear fire.

The other unarmed civilian ships, those that could, began to try and recover as many human escape pods they could and return to the safety of the warships whilst many others began to ram their own ships into the turians'. Their relatively slow speed allowing the ships to directly bypass the kinetic barriers and slam directly into the turian ships; a tactic not since seen since the Great War and the Russian battlefields of World War II, where Russian tank drivers would drive their T-34s directly into the German Panzer Vs and VIs, utterly crippling them. Here many of the turian ships buckled under the impacts, some of them bending into a 'V' shape, others violently detonating as both ships reactors destabilized and detonated, and a scarce few human ships simply tunneled through and through the comparatively lightly armored turian warships.

Many of the turians balked at the face of such an attack. Especially High Admiral Casern Victurs. They had prepared for the worst: an invasion of their homesystem. But not by an enemy that could appear wherever they wished, or the constant stream now quickly turning into a flood of enemy reinforcements, but what shocked them the most was what were obviously civilian ships. Yes the Admiral realized, most if not all turian civilians were trained in the art of combat and were expected to defend their homes should the worst come to pass but not like this. Not what the humans were doing. Actively risking their own lives to rescue who they could from the field of battle, many civilian craft had been and were currently being destroyed as they attempted to save their fellow man but not even to direct attacks but errant strikes. "Spirits just what is this ship to these people?" He had to wonder just what or rather who aboard the human ship they had discovered was to these people that even the civilians would willfully crash their ships in an effort to save them. "Damn it Arterius just what sorts of beast have you awaken? And damn you Teranus, what have you done to enrage them?" Turning to one of his orders he ordered, "Get on the horn, tell as many ships as you can reach to consolidate around Palaven! Tell them this is an order from the High Admiral! Have every ship relay the message however far they can, we need to reach outside the system! Helmsman get us moving!" Despite appearances, Victus couldn't help the feeling of guilt beginning to pool inside him. His orders essentially abandoned the rest of the turian people on the other worlds inside their origin system to the humans. That guilt would follow him and likely his family for a long, long time. "May the spirits, my ancestors and my descendants forgive me."

**APUFMKII**

Onboard the UNSC Era of Retaliation, the four Councilors were beginning to wake up. Wrex, despite having taken triple the force of what his other Councilors had taken, was the first to rise. "Damn, what in the name of Kalros were those things? Sure wasn't some pyjaks." Looking around, he found himself in an unfamiliar room, the design of it was apparently some sort of holding area as, far as he could see, there was no obvious means of opening the door or a door to open and one wall was a large window showing the great void. Wrex nearly jumped into a combat stance when he heard a moan, but recognized it as the others regaining consciousness. He himself was already healed but Tevos had a monster of a bruise on her face, and the same with Valdn. Teranus himself would have more internal bruises than external thanks to his carapace. He kneeled by Tevos, helping her to her feet. "You three going to be alright?"

Even with Wrex's aid, Tevo rose unsteadily to her feet. "Yes, I-" She slipped, just barely bracing herself against a nearby wall, "Yes, I think I will be. Teranus, Valdn?"

"I will be fine. Valdn?" Teranus rose, stumbling for a second before standing.

"The same." Valdn attempted to rise but fell against a wall, bracing his body against it to keep himself up. "Where are we?"

"I think, we are on one of their ships," Tevos looked around the room, searching for a means of escape. "For now, it is probably best to remain put."

"Stay put! Are you mad! We must try and leave before-AGH!" Teranus found himself pressed a full head above the floor as Wrex grabbed the Turian by the throat and slammed him into the wall.

"And do what! DIE in a blaze of glory! Take this ship for our own? I may be Krogan, but I know my limits, and I will not die for your goals." Letting him go, Wrex stepped back, "We do as Tevos says, and wait."

The would not have to wait long as soon, as a door revealed itself when it opened and inside stepped in one of the behemoths that had knocked them out. "Lord Hood wants to see you on the bridge." It said, moving its rifle to direct them out the door. The four did as they were ordered and were surprised when they were not restrained in any way. Outside was a total of twenty-four of the giant warriors, each with different armor configurations and weapons. The same one that had entered the room first spoke. "We have been told to treat you as diplomats but should you try to fight or escape, we have granted permission to use anything up to lethal force to stop you. Now please follow me." With the number of weapons aimed at them, none of the Councilors had any notions of resisting.

Standing proud as they walked, Valdn asked his fellow councilors, "'Lord' Hood? Do you possibly believe they are some sort of monarchy?"

"Possibly," Tevos answered. "But I do not think so. If that was the case the ships would be more ornate I would think, and we have yet to see anything like the sort."

"Agreed." Wrex stared analytically at one of the troopers, a female most likely if the narrower hips were anything to go by, more especially it's armor. "If anything I'm reminded of my own people. Everything here is designed for war and survival. See the random plates on the floor? The ones with a yellow outline?"

"Yes, what about them?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if those things were meant to pop up and create cover if a boarding party came onboard."

Teranus, despite the situation they were currently in, couldn't help but admire these humans, especially after what Wrex said. "I agree with him. Used properly, cover in those locations would serve as a great aid in repelling boarding parties."

"I hope that this is only a sign of their capabilities, and not their species' demeanor." Tevos prayed. The others agreed, if this turned into another Rachini war, the galaxy as they know it would be shattered.

Soon enough they found themselves on what was obviously the bridge of the vessel they were on if the number of stations, officers, tactical display table and the massive window, showing streaks of light and energy in front of them was any indicator. Despite everything going on around them, the councilors' attention was fixed on the man standing at the front of the bridge, standing at parade rest with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Greetings Councilors. I am Rear Admiral Jesse De La Rosa, and you are onboard the UNSC INF-101-series class dreadnought. And the reason I brought you up here Councilors is for one reason and one reason only, so that you know that from this point on, everything that happens, and every one that dies will be on your heads."

Teranus stepped forward, "What do you mean by that?"

"Simply look." In front of the window, the realms of slipspace faded away and the UNSC Era of Retaliation entered, to Teranus, a familiar system. "Welcome home Councilor."


	11. UNSC: PlanetFall

Alternate Past Uncertain Future MK II

A/N: A lot of ragging on the turians happens here, partially demonizing the UNSC but honestly, it's just adding realism. For those of you expecting this entire story to be the UNSC beating down on the Citadel, it's not. The UNSC and the New Covenant will face great adversaries as the story goes on. After all, the big dog can't always stay on top.

Someone's got to shake the mountain.

Btw, sorry about the poor quality. This one is bad chapter for me. Expect lots of edits to happen. And I think I'll be going back and putting a lot more detail in the older chapters. Yes yes I know, this is taking forever as it is. But I've been bumrushing this for a while and have to be careful not to turn the this story into a Mary Sue.

A/N: 2/25/2014 Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. But I've been hitting so many brick walls with this and trying to avoid going all Mary Sue. But I'll have to work on that on a later chapter. And also, I have been working on several other stories also, please check them out, read and review if you like them. This chapter is far below quality and length wise. A mere 5k words. I'll do better on the next chapter. Until then, please review. And those of you who have pointed out many faults in prior chapters, thanks. I will be going back on them and this and adding details to correct them. If there are any errors here, aside from grammar, please PM me them. Thank you. And sorry again.

Chapter 11

Palaven

Homeworld Capital:

Cipritine

Turian Military High Command: Command Center

Inside the hardened bunker located several levels below ground, communications officers read back frantic reports coming from surface from fronts all across Palaven. The news was the same across all fronts: they were losing. Badly.

In charge of it all were Primarch Fedeorian and General Victus, the only two members in the chain-of-succession to have made it to the fortified bunker. All others had been outside the capital once the invasion had begun. Some on the planet itself, others on the moon. From their last reports, General Corinthus was in charge of Lunae operations, though how long that would last was anyone's guess.

"By the spirits, just what is going up there!? Can't someone get me a clearer picture of what's going on?" The Primarch was furious. He prided himself in trying to maintain the standard that all of his predecessors had established and maintained during their times as being the best possible leader for the Turian people. "Anyone!?"

"Sorry sir," General Victus answered, the turian was just as infuriated as his commander-in-chief, "we haven't gotten any intelligence other than the invaders have been sweeping aside our defenses wherever they are, barring locations where heavy armor and air-support are available, and even then, with heavy losses."

"Do we at the very least have set lines? Can we fortify certain locations?"

"It wouldn't do any good sir. From what reports we've received, the enemy is deploying heavy armor from, and I am still unsure how true this is but, medium-to-low orbit." The general shook his head in disbelief. "Sir, I am inclined to believe that these, hoomns, " he strained to say the unfamiliar word, " are using hallucinogenic weapons against us."

"Perhaps but-" The Primarch was interrupted as sirens began blaring inside the command center. "What's going on!"

"Sir, surface reports enemy armor has landed inside the capital! Fifteen units! They're, Spirits, they're being slaughtered!" The communications officer yelled in a panic, the beginnings of hysteria starting to etch on his face. It was a reaction mirrored by many of the officers inside. Cipritine was known for having the elite of the Turian military forces, ranging from the legendary Judicator Sentinels of the Ninth Division, to the reserves of the Armiger Legion and of course, the Legendary First Company: the first organized military company in Palaven's history since becoming a space-faring species, and the only company to have participated in every major battle of every conflict since. There were rumors of Cabals being stationed here as well. For forces such as those to be slaughtered, it was a terrifying notion.

"Control yourselves!" The growing hysteria was shattered at the Primarch's yell. "Are you not Turians! If the enemy are at our doors, then the next action is obvious: arm yourselves and prepare to fight!" With the obvious orders, any and all non-essential personal left the room and sprinted for the armories, for whatever good they may do. "May the Ancestors forgive me for sending these men and women to their graves."

**Five hours earlier**

**UNSC Halcyon(Grade-II, H-type) Cruiser: Shatter the Sky**

**Bridge**

Captain Ashanti Gordovo watched impassively as another alien cruiser-analogy shattered under the force of a three-shot burst of solid tungsten-carbide MAC shells. The battle-tested technology first used by the refit original Halcyon-class cruiser, the Pillar of Autumn. "How many kills does that bring us to?" He asked off hand, idly noticing one of the triangular alien fighters zip fast the bridge dogged by two close-support YSS-1000s. The YSS-1000s or 'Sabres' as they were called, had not changed since they're first deployment over Reach during the early part of the Covenant invasion. They're primary role serving as planetary defense and close-support craft.

"Sir, our total kill count is now two cruiser-analogues, four frigate-analogues and twelve corvette-analogues." His Executive office, a Commander Amelia Weston, answered. "Munitions are currently at 68% for all weapons systems, shields are holding at 75%." Like her captain, and most everyone on the bridge, there was little trepidation on the bridge. If anything, it was calm and calculated fury being directed at the aliens. "MAC controls are temporarily offline. That last cruiser somehow disabled the main cannons with its missile battery. Whatever payload it had, it bypassed our shields partly. Our engineers are working on a fix right now sir." Ashanti did not really care, his ship could handle it. Even should they enemy penetrate the shields, the hull would be more than enough protection. They were designed to protect against something like another Halcyon(Grade-II) or an old Covenant Cruiser's main battery. Instead he was watching the holo of the planet before him.

"We located a drop-zone yet?" Another frigate-analogue exploded in a dazzle of pyrotechnics as it fell under the barrage of several forward mounted 88mm autocannons from the Shatter the Sky. "I think our boys and girls would like their turn at these brats." In the eyes of many humans, the turians had become little more than insolents children that needed to be taught their place. That they weren't the biggest guys in the neighborhood. Not anymore.

Next to the captain, a UNSC Smart-AI appeared, garbed in the armor and robes of a knight of the Third Crusade, a more commonly occurring theme amongst Smart-AIs in UNSC military. This particular AI was based around the persona of King Richards I. "These heathens believe themselves to be superior. I've detected several dozen planetary guns and Anti-air emplacements all over the planet. Along with multiple demands to 'stand down'. However, I recommend our light-cruisers and anything below their weight class to remain clear of the planet." Before the captain could ask, several locations of the planet were highlighted blue, "I've detected several ground-to-space ordinance locations, ranging from planetary mass accelerators to ballistic missiles, which are more than capable to crippling if not outright destroying ships of the types I just stated. Those above will be fine, however we still cannot remain in range long. Sustained fire will be a significant threat."

"Agreed, send the warning to any vessel of light-cruiser tonnage and below inside our range to stay clear of the planet. What about the guns themselves? Anything we can do against them?"

Waving a hand, an image of Palaven appeared on one of the many screens on the bridge, several locations highlighted in green, yellow and red. "I've tagged as many of the planetary defenses as I could. However, from my scans and those I've gained from others in vicinity, the guns are too heavily fortified for anything other than a direct hit by an Infinity class's energy projectors if we were to try and disable them from low-orbit."

Ashanti grimaced. That level of fortification left one option, a ground war. The range of the planetary guns was considerable. And the sheer numbers meant they couldn't get their cruisers directly over a city and simply bombard it. "Find me a dropzone then. It's going to be a ground war."

"Understood sir, informing the ODSTs and ODAs now." The AI disappeared as it went to inform the men and women below.

**Shatter the Sky: Orbital Insertion Preparation deck**

On the preparation deck, hundreds of ODSTs scrambled. Grabbing whatever extra weapons and munitions they desired as they readied themselves and others for drop. Ammo was slotted into packs and the like. Weapons slotted into the securing points inside the pods themselves.

Squad and Platoon leaders were being issued their orders and locations of operations. Each sharing the same objective: search for any information that could pertain the location of the Everest, and thus Preston Cole, extract the Admiral and any other UNSC survivors and get out. Anything else was left to each person's interpretation.

However, that was amongst the infantry.

The ODA's were prepping for combat.

**APUFMKII**

On the ground turian soldiers and armor units were scrambling across the outskirts and inside the city. Anti-air and anti-tank defenses were established. Trenches were dug and barricades were established. The turians were preparing for the inevitable invasion of their planet by the new species. Many of those on the ground didn't even know why this conflict had arisen. Shouldn't their fleet have eradicated or subjugated these newcomers? How had they managed to penetrate this far into their defenses? What had happened to the colonies? Many other similar questions burned through the minds of many turians as they readied themselves and their defenses.

At one of the barricades established inside the capital, a Turian Cabal, Nyreen Kandros was watching her squad set up a HMG and other weapons emplacements on top of a prefabricated wall that they were using to block off a street. Behind her, several other makeshift tents had been established for munitions and the like. The command center and other important supplies, such as their explosive ordinance had been sequestered away inside the buildings on the street. "C'mon move it! We don't know how long we have before they start trying to drop in!"

One of the soldiers, a young private, grumbled. "I'm a good turian why do we have to listen to the female?"

One of his fellow soldiers slapped his soldier. "Quiet!" He chastised in a hushed whisper. "Don't let her hear you say that! She's a Cabal, meaning she outranks just about everyone in this blasted city except for the commanders!"

The private growled. "I'll do as she says, but I don't like it. Females shouldn't be on the battlefield, they should be back home or in the medical tents. They're totally useless in a fight."

"Oh?" The private twitched at the voice. "Is that what you believe?" Turning, he found himself looking into the polarized visor of his commanding officer. "Well now. Let's see how this-" A boom cracked across the skies, then another. Followed by a third. Everyone looked up to see streaks of fire coming from the skies down towards the city and the outskirts.

Nyreen looked away from the falling fires, and looked to her squad. Seeing them dumbstruck by the falling fires, fired off a round. Drawing their attention back to her. "Move out."

**APUFMKII**

Lieutenant Colonel Hadrian Domnius watched as the altimeter on his HUD decreased at a blistering pace.

Thirty thousand kilometers.

Twenty-five thousand kilometers.

Fifteen thousand. Ten thousand.

The basic AI inside the suit activated as it reached the required distance. "Ejecting drag suit(yes that is suit, not chute). Engaging Thrusters." Harsh shudders rocked his body as the thrusters engaged in an effort to slow his descent to a survivable speed. Grabbing ahold of the controls, he initiated the systems. His HUD flared to life as it went from stand-by to tactical mode. Highlighting anything in the enviorment he could see, and small dots representing faraway units. "Calling to all units. Sound off now!"

"Hammer 1-2 ready to bring the pain!"

"Hammer 1-3, jonesing to kick it where it hurts!"

"Hammer 1-4, ready and able."

"Hammer 1-5, Nos a mortuis, mortem ferimus." As each voice sounded off, his HUD tagged each a dropped a marker on each, showing him their positions as they fell.

"Hammer 1-1. All call-signs in." Hadrian switched the Comm. to a general frequency. Letting everyone, both human, and alien. Friendly and enemy, hear his voice. All across the forces dropping down on Palaven's capital city, both falling from the skies and in the drops above them, they all heard. "Listen up! We are dropping in directly in enemy lines! Remember why we are here! We are not here for what they did at Shanxi! We are not here for attacking the UNSC! We are here, for one reason, and one reason only! The Hero and the Great Mountain is on this world! And by Heaven or Hell! Angels or Daemons! We will find them, and we will bring them home! Do you get me!?"

The voice answered as one heart, one mind, one voice, one soul. "WE GET YOU SIR!"

The Colonel himself gritted his teeth and yanked hard on the controls as his altimeter read two thousand meters altitude. The unit shook hard from the G-forces slamming against it. Slowly but surely, the unit rotated one-hundred eighty degrees, before slamming into the Palaven dirt.

Squads of Turian soldiers rushed the, intent on taking out whatever had landed onto their world. Dust obscured everything, the turians held their fire, waiting for whatever would come out of the dust.

Soon the outline of a thing appeared in the dust, before a dark red line lit up in the dust. One of the turians yelled in his native tongue and a tsunami of bullets riddled the thing in the crater. Weapons overheated as the rounds poured onto the thing. Soon the fire stopped as their weapons forced on their safeties to cool, lest the weapons warp and melt from the heat.

Soon the dust cloud settled, and a golden shimmer could be seen. Hexagonal patterns making up its structure. Soon, it disappeared, and the hulk could be seen more clearly. The turians stepped forward, hoping to get a closer look at their target. They never got the chance.

25mm Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized Sabot Shells splattered their bodies into so much paste as the sheer velocity and heat from the Anti-tank rounds riddled their bodies. Shearing them in half at the torso, others were completely disintegrated. Firing at 900 rounds a minute, traveling at two kilometers a second, the autocannon shells showed no mercy.

As the last turian was turned into some much pulped meat, the fire died down.

From the crater a massive mechanical hand grasped the lip of the crater, as the rest of its bulk followed. HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL MARK XII, callsign, Hel, raised itself from the crater. Across and outside the city, similar scenes were happening as dozens of other suits hit the Palaven dirt. Looking up, the Colonel saw more streaks across the sky as more and more units crashing down. "This Colonel Hadrian. Daemon Company is on the ground."

**APUFMKII**

"By the Ancestors! What are these abominations!?" Second Lieutenant Flavus Vakarian slammed down the firing studs of the six-barreled auto-cannon of a crippled Charum Infantry-Fighting Vehicle. The weapons were perfectly fine, but the vehicle would never move again, its treads completely destroyed. The barrel glowed red and slowly turned white as it was pushed above and beyond its normal limits. His target? One of the massive bipedal walkers that had fallen from the skies moments ago and carrying a very large rifle. One that was so massive he doubted anything but those walkers could carry them. And they were closing in on his position. "We need armor! Or a blasted artillery strike! Agh!" He fell off the cannon as a massive round from the alien bipedal walker's rifle skimmed past, slamming into the building behind him. But it traveled with such velocity, it burned the air near Flavus.

"Sir!" A young turian private ran up to him, grabbing him off the floor and to better cover. "Medic! We need a medic over here! And someone get back on that gun!" Though the turian was a mere private, no one questioned his orders as he spoke with an authority not found in one as young as he was. "Sir, are you alright?"

Flavus waved off the private as the medic arrived, carrying a medical hardcase. "Send the medic back, I'm fine. There are others who need actual help. It's just a slight burn. I'll be fine." The medic took a cursory glance at where the round had passed so dangerously close to Vakarian. The helmeted trooper nodded and without a word, ran off. "Someone get me a line to command, we can't hold this position. Not without help." As to puncate his point, the gunner and the turret were vaporized by the enemy mech. The rounds from its rifle shattering the turret and its gunner.

"But sir, command has ordered total radio silence. We are not to contact them under any circumstances." The private protested, even as we watched his fellow turians trying to take on the mechanical abomination ducking for cover behind the thickest material they could find, or scream for a medic as limbs were shot offs and heads taken off.

The pre-fabricated barricade shuddered as another burst of high caliber rounds slammed into it. "Damn them! Then get me a line to the artillery crews! Tell them I want a fire pattern at our position! And I don't care its danger-close or unauthorized! I'll take the fall if I have to! But tell them if they don't open fire on that grid now! Palaven high-command will be lost!" As if to punctate his statement, the barricade finally shattered under the withering fire, peeling apart as the rounds ripped holes in the wall and tore a hole.

At the sight of the ripped open barricade, the private froze up before Flavus slammed a rifle and into the privates hands and pointing in a direction to run. The private ran off, speaking into his radio as he ran. Flavus got back to his feet and grabbed his sidearm. Marching up to the platform where his troops stood against the defenders, parts of it was slick with blood. Taking cover alongside them, he readied his sidearm. "Stand firm! You are soldiers of Palaven! And this is our world! These aliens think they can come here and take what they want! Destroy our world at their whim! But we will prove them wrong! We are in the right! They have come to take what is rightfully ours! Fight to the last, for we are Palaven's Glory!" A faint whistling was heard from the skies.

On the other side of the platform, the aliens yelled something in their language before scattering. The bipedal walker tried to get out of the clearing but was trapped by the proximity of the buildings. Meaning it had nowhere to go once the barrage began.

The world shook as the artillery barrage shattered the streets. Explosive shells filling the street in debris, shrapnel and fire. The barrage continued for a full half-minute. Thirty seconds of nonstop explosions.

Once the barrage ended, Flavus peeked over the barricade to find a welcoming sight. The mechanical walker had collapsed and was destroyed beyond recognition. Alien bodies, both intact and parts were scattered around the street also, the buildings they had taken refuse in on the verge of becoming piles of rubble.

The troops at the barricade cheered. A battle was won, but Flavus knew this war was far from over.

**APUFMKII**

A squad of HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL MARK XIIs were walking down a ruined street in the capital city of Palaven. Each one a different variant of the Base variant. One of them with the bright blue and green stripes of a Designated Marksmen, carrying a M700-series Semi-Auto Bolt-shot, firing 35mm Depleted Uranium shells. "Sir, I have zero contacts on my sensors. Both passive and active." Inside was Gunnery Sargent Taiba Quara, callsign: Whisper, she was a markswoman whose skill was virtually unmatched except by those in the Spartan ranks. Able to acquire, aim and neutralize a target in one fluid motion, and even better in a target rich environment, coining the new phrase, "One mag, thirty kills."

"Same here boss. I can't find any sort of electrical grid besides the basic one. Wherever it's hidden, it pretty well shielded." Another variant, this one a 'Seeker' variant, with yellow markings, carried a pack unlike more of its fellow exosuits. Callsign: Ghoul. Designated as an intelligence gatherer, it was meant to scan, listen, decrypt and locate any sort of electrical signals and communications. The variant was codenamed: Sparks, and its pilot was one Jamie Freloren. One of the best of ONI's field agents, and part of the few that actually went on operations with non-ONI forces. "Damn, this birds got some wicked tech if they block my gear." Her frame carried the standard JX-312 rifle, firing 12mm saboted spikes at 800 rounds a minute.

"I say we just start blowing holes in the road until we find something." The designated Demolition/Support unit, marked by Red, yellow and orange stripes was given a wide berth by the others. Callsign: Tungsten, it's pilot one Harden Phillips, his callsign was for his thickheadedness and belief that "every problem can be solved with the proper amount of explosives." and had a reputation of being quite the pervert, often making lewd, if joking comments about women, which along with kind demeanor, meant he was both hated and loved. His frame was carrying an A-5 seven-barreled 30mm rotary autocannon, with a withering rate-of-fire of fifteen hundred rounds a minute, equal to that of the aptly named MG-42 "Buzzsaw", loaded with explosive rounds. When it fired, it was a continuous roar of death. That in of itself made it a walking WMD. But it also carried the squad's heavy weapons. An AC-41 Multimunition Missile launcher, designed for use against a tank column or a small-capital ship like a corvette, capable to firing a single missile with an internal payload of several 105mm submunition missiles.

"The three of you, shape up!" The Squad leader, Callsign, 'Singer', name: Timura David, was in a 'special' model of the Mk. XII. It was not dissimilar to a 'base' model Mk. XII, for all appearances. Except for one big difference, the oversized 'backpack' it carried and the conduit protruding from it. Singer, as a Mk. XII squad leader, was authorized to carry one of the UNSC's most prized weapons: The second generation GK-3 'Goryeo' beam rifle. A scaled-up design of the Covenant beam rifle, enhanced by human and partially-reverse engineered Forerunner technologies. It was a multi-purpose capable weapon, accurate enough to serve as a sniper rifle, powerful enough to serve in an anti-armor role, or a semi-auto rifle, based on what it was set it for prior to deployment. Battlefield alterations were impossible. Singer's was configured for the anti-armor mode, firing a cohesive beam energy capable of penetrating most material the UNSC had encountered without shields. The conduit from the oversized pack connecting directly from the pack to the weapon itself. "Our objective to clear out as many AA emplacements as we can and clear a path for the dropships."

"Why don't we just fire on this shit from orbit? It's not like they can shoot us out of the sky or something." Tungsten asked. He was jolted forward as he was slapped by Ghoul.

"If you would use that thing between your shoulders for more than trying to guess a woman's cup size, you would know that we can't because we don't know where the Everest is! No one want's to be known as the person that killed Cole."

"Just saying, it's an option."

Ghoul's stopped in front of Tungsten, jabbing his exoskeleton in the chest. "Well maybe you should-" Ghoul never finished what she was saying as explosions rocked the area around them. "What the hell was-" Right as a several metric tons of building fell right on her, her signal competely disappearing from the HUDs of the squad.

Tungsten spun, "Ghoul!" Before any of the squad could try to save their squadmate, they were besieged by all sides. Small arms fire from dozens of rifles, grenades, and several missiles pelted the mech squad, firing down on them from the windows of the buildings around them. Electrical discharges, dark energy orbs and incendiary missiles splashed against the shields, actually shattering them under the barrage and began striking the heavy armor before any of the squad could react. The squad simply braced itself, shielding their 'heads' with their arms or weapons. When the firing and dulled from to a dull roar, Stinger whipped his beam weapon in a wide arc, "Return Fire!", a deadly beam of violet energy slicing through the buildings, leaving molten metal and rock in in its wake.

35mm shells began to slam into the building, causing a tremor with each impact, just before it was joined by a torrent of 30mm explosive shells, vaporizing the buildings as it punched through glass, metal, flesh and bone, choking the air with dust and bloodmist. Tearing the buildings apart, even as Stinger's beam cut large gashes in the buildings around them, leaving angry red scars. Shells clattered around them, digging into the road beneath their feet from their sheer weight. The tidal wave of noise did not stop until Stinger raised a fist. "Cease fire." Even with all the fire around them, thanks to their internal comms, the fire ceased as soon as their squad leader gave the order. As the dust cloud settled, they could see what they had just caused. The buildings that they had been ambushed from were torn down to almost their bare frames. Only fragments of corpses remained. "All clear." Stinger looked towards the pile of rubble, about to order the others to help him dig our Ghoul when he saw it.

Tungsten had already rushed over to where Ghoul had last been, and was frantically trying to clear the rubble. "C'mon Ghoul, don't you dare die on me woman." He muttered. Tungsten was soon joined by the others, who also began clearing away the rubble. "C'mon where are you Ghoul? Answer me." With her suit gone from their HUD, they couldn't tell if she was dead, alive or wounded, and until otherwise they would assume the last.

**APUFMKII**

Several hours ago, moments before arrival of UNSC and CDF corvettes.

While many of Palaven's secret projects were located on the homeworld and other offworld locations, its biggest secrets were stored elsewhere. Specifically within the underground shipyards and docking bays within Palaven's moon of Menae.

The installation was an incredibly old one, created before the turian's arrival on the galactic scene. Commission and created prior and during the Unification wars, it was meant to serve as a covert staging area should the Hierarchy ever become involved due to no action of their own. The massive hangars were built underground, to hide whatever ships they desired from prying eyes.

And it was here where the Hierarchy had hidden the UNSC Everest since its finding. The movement of the ship from one of the forgotten claims had not been an easy task. The very size of the vessel made it difficult, requiring a multitude of cruisers, frigates and dreadnoughts working in concert to be able to tow the ship with them and to the nearest mass relay and from there into the hidden hangars.

Even know, with their home system being invaded by the new species, those inside worked tirelessly to uncover the secrets of the ship.

"Damn, just what were these people fighting?" A turian soldier muttered as he walked through the darkened corridors of the ship. "Blast, another sealed bulkhead." He activated his omnitool and marked the passage before turning back to look for another way. Getting inside the warship had been easy, the hull had so many breaches that it was simply a matter of choosing an entry point. After that though, it became complicated. The scale of the ship meant that hundreds of other soldiers were mapping out the ship by actually walking the corridors. Active and passive scanners had little success in mapping out the corridors, the hull of the ship passively stopping any intrusive scans. Using echolocation to try and map out the inside proved to be fruitless as for whatever reason, the design of the corridors result in the return image being a far cry from the actual design. Hence why they were manually mapping the ship.

As it was, they had barely made any headway. Having only managed to gain access to certain areas of the ship, such as the medical wings of the ship along with the motor pool and what appeared to be a ready room in the bottom of the ship along with other areas and several armories. However they had been barred from entering the reactor core, the bridge and a large area of the ship that, in everyone's eyes, showed no real purpose. The paths to these locations had been blocked by sealed bulkheads. These were left alone after the first team to enter had breached one of these bulkheads only to be eviscerated by a series of automated defenses separate from the rest of the ship.

The soldier stopped as his comm. clicked on. "All troops, report to command immediately! We Palaven under attack by unknown hostiles! I repeat Palaven is under attack by unknowns!" The soldier snarled under his breath before sprinting back the way he came, heading back the way he came and towards the closest exit.

On the bridge, idle stations were dark. Power having left them long ago. All that is, except for a single pedestal, next to the command chair of the bridge. A dull hum began to sound throughout the bridge, slowly growing in tone and volume as long idle stations and machines began to wake once more.

Underneath the light dust that had accumulated accumulated on the stations, screens and displays began to light up once more. Lines began to appear on them, all of them the same.

"UNSC/UEG IFF detected. Unknown callsigns. IFFs confirmed. Executing Amerigo Protocol."

"Reactor status: 15% capacity. Fuel status: 46% Coolant Status: 78%"

"Reactor: Increasing to 45% capacity."

"Armaments status. Primary Armaments: Main Cannon 1: offline, Main Cannon 2 offline. Secondary Cannon: standby. Secondary Armaments: Archer missiles: Depleted. Shiva missiles: Depleted. Tertiary Armament: AAA M190 Helix Defense System: 87%."

"Unknown IFFs presence detected: internal and external."

"Booting up sealed UNSC 'Smart' AI MRN-01/138." The pedestal, which only had a faint glow before, began to glow brighter.


	12. UNSC: Arrival

Alternate Past: Uncertain Future MKII

Credit for added work to aDarkOne for helping me write this chapter.

Read Author's note at bottom please.

Also, this is a request, could or rather is, anyone willing to create a cover image for my story? This would have to be out of the goodness of your heart,(or wallet) as I am broke and can not pay for services whatsoever. Outside of writing more on this story.

(3/4/2014, as of this posting, this is what I have come up so far since the last post. It is unfinished as it is a meager 1794 words. I will create a full chapter, but I wanted to know what you guys think. Please review and tell me if I still got it.)

(3/21/2014, well guys, here is the full chapter, as of now. Let me know what you think, as per usual.)

Chapter 12

"The road to hell, is often paved with the best of intentions."

UNSC: Revelation

As the UNSC Era of Retaliation punched a hole back into realspace, and granting a view of the turian's home system, Admiral De La Rosa steeled his features before the emotions bubbling under him could run unchecked. What they, that is the bridge crew of the Era, had expected to see when they had entered the system, was a turian fleet that once they had realized the Era had arrived, would enmasse, move towards their position.

What they did not expect to see, was a warzone. The space between worlds was filled with the wrecked and shattered hulls of an untold number of ships. Even without an IFF, it was plain to see many were UNSC and CDF vessels, turian warships and even civilian craft that possessed slipspace capability. Even now, ships still rent holes back into real space, though was a trickle compared the flood earlier. And most, upon sighting the Era, immediately halted.

What seized everyone's attention, least the humans', however was the rapidly growing asteroid field. Most didn't realize what it was, but the Admiral did. He had seen such devastation only once in his entire career, even then, it paled in comparison to the sight before him. What was once a planet completely shattered and broken, with whatever ships that were unfortunate enough to be nearby turned into already cooled streaks of metal from the blast.

Looking briefly behind him, the Admiral noticed how the four Citadel Councilors were in shock, taking in the devastation before them. Taking advantage of the moment, the Admiral. used his neural implant to connect with the ship's AI. 'Mjolnir, please tell me that someone did NOT detonate a NOVA-class nuke here. Please tell me that I am not seeing human ships laying waste to the system.' His neural link translated and sent his thoughts directly to the AI.

'Wish I could Admiral, but radiological readings are comparable to a NOVA detonation, and you know the only other thing that is similiar is-'

'Is a stellar-explosion, yeah I know.' The Admiral fought the urge to grimace. He didn't think that someone would even consider deploying a NOVA, let alone actually detonate it. There weren't even that many ships allowed to carry it, only the Era and her sister ships when they were finished, and maybe a few ONI ships. 'Wait…Mjolnir, any signs that a Prowler was here?'

'Checking now. However sir, it seems our 'guests' have a few questions.' As the Admiral turned again, he saw the four Councilors had approached his position, if only to see the devastation even closer. Teranus was the first to speak, "W-w-why? Why have you done this? What in the Spirits happened to Impera?" All but yelling the last.

'Mjolnir, contact every single damn ship in the system, and tell them to get behind the Era, tell them this is Admiral Jesse De la Rosa, and any ship that disobeys will be blasted out of existence. Do it while I handle our 'guests'.' His commands relayed, the Admiral sighed internally, he did not want to do what he was about to do but he decided that to try and make the best of the situation. To turn what was one of the greatest crimes in human history, into the greatest example of just what humanity could do. And if that meant that he needed to play the devil, so be it. Better to play the devil than to be in a war. Without turning to the Councilors he began, "Councilor. Humanity is no stranger to war. We have been annihilating each other on the battlefield for as long as our people have existed. And then we encountered the greatest threat our species had ever encountered. We were soon plunged into a war the likes we have never seen and survived. As a result, war, is something we have become exceedingly efficient at. You simply lack the fortitude for a real war.""

"War!" Wrex, who had surprisingly been the image of calm among the Councilors suddenly was enraged. "What do you know of war! Our society was nearly destroyed when we encountered the Rachini! It took every single thing we had to push them back! My people nearly destroyed ourselves in a nuclear genocide!"

De la Rosa snorted. "Is that all you have faced?" He asked, not even turning away from the viewport as more and more of the Turian Navy was decimated. "How many did you lose in that war? A dozen million? Maybe a couple hundred million? To us, to humanity, that is simply a brush conflict, a small insurrection. One that is ended before it can begin." He turned to glare into Teranus's eyes, the anger behind them boring straight into the Turian's soul, marching up to him and grabbing him by the collar, with an anger that Jesse did not think he had. "We have seen the true face of war. And we did not flinch." He let go of Teranus. "We endured. We adapted. We survived." De la Rosa turned back the window. "You asked what happened to your world turian? The answer is simply, we destroyed it." He bit back his self-disgust as he callously disregarded the destruction of an entire world, but he hoped that this would ensure that humanity would not, if not have enemies, then at least not be in a war again.

The Admiral's words hung in the air as the four processed them, Valdn was the first to regain his voice. "Impossible! Not madness! Why would you have a weapon that cause such destruction, let alone how! No race, no matter had depraved, would have a weapon of such magnitude." The Admiral did not respond, in desperation, Valdn looked towards the other members of the bridge crew, looking for some validation of his words. That they had no weapon, and never would. What he got were somber faces from the young or hard glares from the old around him. More than a few tears were shed and blood drawn as fists were made. Looking at the Admirals back yet again, he manage to utter, "Impossible."

The Admiral did not bother to turn around, "Is it? I ask again, how many died this Rachini war was you call it? How long did it last?"

"Three hundred years, and we lost over three billion of our people." Teranus responded. De la Rosa's neural link translating the Citadel figures into the Earth solar years, which were surprising similar.

"And your worlds? How many were lost?"

"Several dozen, but we eventually reclaimed and resettled them all." Teranus and his fellow Councilors were surprised when the Admiral snorted.

"Is that all? Councilors, you truly do not understand war. From you have told me, your people, the very existence of your species was never truly imperilled. Humanity fought a war against an alliance of aliens, hell-bent on our extermination for one reason and one reason alone:"Your extinction, is the will of the gods. And we, are their instrument." Those were the first words humanity heard as a whole upon first contact, and it would not be the last time we would hear them. Over thirty years, we fought and died in the face of a relentless, unforgiving and merciless enemy. Our worlds burned by the score, their surfaces turned to naught but glass. Tell me, have you ever seen a world be burned by plasma? To see the oceans boil and vaporize, the sand and earth turn to glass, a mirror smooth surface filled by the remains of the dead?" His voice had lowered to a deathly whisper as he remembered the very sights he described, the silence of bridge ensured each word was heard clearly. "Our enemies did not care who or what we were. Man, woman, child, military or civilian, they all burned the same. In their genocide, tens of billions perished. And as we watched, seeing our worlds, our families burn in the face of the enemy, we quickly realized, as someone once said that 'It is an undeniable and may I say fundamental quality of man that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable'." Gesturing to the shattered planet he elaborated, "What you see before you, is a weapon created in the wake of such desperation."

Tevos, despite her skin having paled at what she just witnessed and had been told, managed to ask, albeit in a quaking voice, "W-w-what I must ask is, was the war so terrible that you need a weapon of such magnitude to win?"

A sad smile crept across the Supreme Commander's face. "Win? My dear Councilor, we created the NOVA not as a means to win, but as a means to put us on equal terms. For thirty years we lost to our enemies. City by city, fleet by fleet, world by world, for over thirty years. We sent thousands to their deaths to buy our people more time. Thousands of weapons were designed and deployed so that we might survive. And thousands more willingly made the ultimate sacrifice to buy us time. The NOVA would have given us a fighting chance. A bomb that would have burned the worlds of our enemies, committing the very genocide on them as they had us. To try and force them back in one last desperate gambit. A gambit, that many are grateful for, never came to pass." De la Rosa grabbed Teranus by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the window. "Your people have made a great mistake, turian." De la Rosa said, lacing the last word with so much venom it was like a curse, anger coming from within that De la Rosa did not know existed. "The man aboard the ship that you hold like some sort of prize is a hero, no, not a hero; he is a symbol to all of my people. A symbol of hope. Of redemption. Of perseverance. Of standing tall in the face of overwhelming odds. And was the hero we needed, but not the one we deserved." His voice dropping to whisper at the end. "So for the sake of your people, tell me where he is. Before my people tear apart your planet to reclaim our hero. And I will do nothing to stop them."

"And your people haven't already! You ordered them to this! What more can you do?"

De la Rosa released Teranus from his grip before whispering, "You are mistaken Councilor. The man you are holding is one of such charisma and a symbol of such power, that the man in the street would gladly lay down his life to see him safely home. Every single ship that you see out there, is here of their own volition. Every single one. They came because they value the life of the man you are holding above their own. And they will not stop until he is found and brought home."

**APUFMKII**

Surface of Palaven

Capital of Cipritine

Turian Command Center

Outside the once-hidden entrance to the command center, the building facade had all but fallen apart from constant tremors, explosives and one of those alien walkers actually barreling through the building as it fell. Luckily, the war machine had not emerged from the rubble, remained buried underneath.

That was a moot point however, as the command center, or the entrance at least, was now under siege. With the loss of the facade, the only thing keeping the command center secured was a series of thick dreadnought-armor grade doors, each several layers thick. And the aliens had spotted them. The first and second set of doors had long since been breached, but now, inside the structure, the invaders were bottlenecked, giving the turian defenders both breathing room and a fighting chance. Bodies from both sides choked the no-man's-land in between the two factions, the floor caked in blood and spent rounds, stripped ammo blocks and broken weapons. Gunfire filling the air as both sides constantly traded shots

A young turian by the name of Garrus Vakarian hung in the back, an Arye anti-material sniper rifle in his hand. "C'mon, just a little more, c'mon on." Underneath his armored gauntlets, his talons ached from holding the weapon. By all rights he shouldn't have been here, this deep into turian command. But once the command center had come under attack, a general rally went out to any units in the area. To make matters worse for the young soldier, his father was out there somewhere, still fighting. Last he had heard, several of the mechanical abominations had landed near his last reported sector and an artillery barrage had been called in.

In his crosshairs, the head of the alien came into sight. "Got you." With a squeeze of the trigger, the hypersonic round traveled the length of the room, spearing the hapless trooper in the head, creating a geyser of blood, brain and bone to go out the back. He ducked down as soon he had seen the kill. Even as far back as he was, the aliens had their own snipers. With frighteningly powerful weapons. He had seen a single shot go through almost four of his fellow turians before being stopped by a portable metal barrier, killing three of them, and crippling the fourth. Despite that, by the grace of the spirits, nothing stronger than that had been used by the aliens. In contrast, the turian defenders were using anything and everything they could find from the armories to defend the doors. Rumors had already begun to spread of prototype weapons being pulled directly from research and development labs, both tested and untested.

A plinking noise soon caught his, along with every other turian's, attention. Three canisters bounced against the ground rolling towards the turian positions. Someone shouted, "Grenade!" just before it went off. Instead of filling the air with lethal shrapnel, it released a blast of sound and light, blinding and stunning every turian without a helmet, before the latter were blasted a shockwave of energy, helmets and armor locked up and failed as electromagnetic energy surged through their systems and trying to compensate. A scenario like this would have had most soldiers stumbling blindly and be easy targets.

But not these turians. Which the exemption of Garrus and a few others, most of the defenders were turian elites, ranging from the 101st 'Battle-stars' Battalion, to the 26th Armiger legion and even some from the 1st Infantry division, who had the motto, "First ones in, last ones out." Those who had been blinded by the flashbangs sprayed down the hall towards the aliens, while the others ripped off their helmets, and soon opened fire. Those who did not fire, either from confusion or unwillingness to risk harming a friendly, simply ducked down to give clear lines of fire for those behind them.

And still some were cut down, supersonic and sub-sonic munitions flying through the air, the clanking noise of the turian phaeston rifles mixing with the aliens' rifles' clattering, contrails of passing hyper-sonic rounds from both sides filling the air.

Garrus rose again, peering down his scope, only for a shudder to pass through his fringes before he ducked right back down. A hyper-sonic Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding round splitting the air where he had been moments before. But not before he had taken a mental picture of the aliens and where they were through the scope.

Recalling where he had last seen potential targets, he readied himself. "Spirits give me strength. Hasten and assist me." Getting back out of cover, he readied his sniper again, only to find; nothing. No targets, no bullets flying through the air. Just a dead and uneasy silence. How had he not noticed that? One would think that when the din of combat suddenly silenced, it would be obvious. At the other end though, as he looked through his scopes, what he saw chilled him to the bone. An enemy sniper staring down his own rifle, having Garrus dead to rights. But he didn't fire, why? Garrus didn't dare pull the trigger on his own rifle, the uneasy silence holding him back.

Slowly, the alien sniper started to step back, keeping his rifle trained on Garrus, who did the same. Until finally, one by one, all of the aliens had disappeared. Leaving the defenders wondering, 'What in the spirits just happened?'

**APUFMKII**

Meanwhile, back onboard the Era of Retaliation, the four most powerful people in what they once thought as the most greatest galactic superpower in existence sat in mute silence, still processing what they had just seen and been told.

When they had first the human ambassador boasted, no, to boast is to imply something is greater than it actually is. No, when he stated that humanity had risen to the stars a second time, of the power they claimed that humanity once possessed, they had assumed it been a lie, subterfuge, to trick the Council into capitulating against a non-existent threat. Tevos let out a very unrefined snort. 'Non-existent, how wrong we were.' The matriarch looked towards her despondent turian counterpart, who had not moved from the window of the room they were occupying.

As shameful as it was, she felt no real pity towards Teranus, oh she was appalled by the destruction of Impera, it was nothing short of an act of genocide. Still, she and her other counterparts, couldn't help but feel that Teranus had, in a way, brought it upon himself. They all had seen the least of what these humans could do. They had all seen their ships. And they had heard the barely contained rage and suppressed emotions in the ambassador's words when he had warned Teranus of the consequences if he did not give in to their demands. Demands that, at the very least, she was willing to capitulate to.

Wrex had his arms crossed as he, along with Teranus, gazed upon the rapidly growing asteroid belt that was once Impera. Tracking a rather large asteroid as it collided with several smaller ones, cratering its surface, he imagined what would have happened if the krogan people had not gotten its act together? Would Tuchanka, instead of being a cultural and art center of the galaxy as it was now, been nothing more than a radioactive cratered ball of rock filled with ruins and warring tribes fighting each other for scraps? Or would there even be a Tuchanka?

He was old enough to remember the times when it seemed like Tuchanka was on the eve of all out nuclear war. By Kalros, they were devising every kind of weapon they could think of, from conventional to nuclear to biological. Ironically, the very weapons that they so carefully crafted to destroy each other, was the very thing that would push them to come together and head for the stars. Still, the old warlord in him couldn't help but calculate just how powerful this 'NOVA' had to have been that it could destroy a planet so utterly, or just how desperate these humans had become to consider a planet-destroyer to simply level the playing field.

Oh weapons that could destroy a planet were not something that the Council had never seen or heard of. Each of the major Citadel races had the designs to 'planet-killers' as weapons of such magnitude were called, not once had any of them actually been built. And none of them were projected to be as devastating as the human's 'NOVA'. None were ever built because no one ever thought they would be needed, not even during the Rachini wars. But now the rules had changed, with these humans, Wrex realized, a war on any scale, whether it be all-out, proxy or even a shadow war, it would be devastating. And to the old krogan's surprise, he found the prospect; exciting.

Valdn was in a stupor, not since the yahg had the Council found such a conflict driven and violent race. He thought that the Citadel races had seen the worst the galaxy had to offer first with the yahg and the Rachini, but these humans, they were on a whole other scale. Not only they possess weapons of unprecedented scale, least those that had been made, they had virtually no qualms about using it. The only thing going through his mind was how the Salarian Union could come out of this scenario still standing tall.

As for Teranus himself, he prayed to the Spirits that they would forgive him for what he, for all intents and purposes, had brought down on the turian people. He had goaded the humans, believing that his people would be able to stand against any race, that they were indomitable. How wrong had he been. The room they had been so graciously 'given' also gave the four a grand view, the human's grand fleet that is. Even with the battle scars so many of the ships had, many of which even with the naked eye were clearly civilian, it was impressive, Teranus had grudgingly admitted. Still, as much as he may have wished to wallow in self-hate and anger, there were other matters that needed tending too. Matters involving the whole of their Galactic Society. With a sigh and heavy art, he addressed his fellow Councilors, "It would seem that we have little choice, but to try for peace, if we can." Not to his surprise was Valdn the first to speak, and in protest as expected.

"Peace! You expect for those, those monsters to actually try for peace!" Bit by bit what little dignity the aging salarian councilor had began to fall away, the fear plain in his eyes. "How would you even try to reason with them? They destroyed an entire world, one of your worlds, just to show their power! They sacked your homeworld-"

"What else can we do?" Teranus shouted back. "Fight a war against an enemy the likes of which we have never faced! Sacrifice how many generations in a pointless war that we may be able to avoid? A war that we ultimately may lose?"

"Surely they can't stand against the entire might of the Council, not if we were to muster our full strength!" Valdn was becoming desperate, grasping at straws where there were none. "We have the STG, your Blackwatch! And the krogan-"

"Don't be an idiot!" This time it was Wrex who had interrupted Valdn. "Don't you recall what that human leader said back there, how some of those were civilian ships?" Wrex snorted when the others except Teranus gave him a blank look. "The way he said it, I wouldn't be surprised if the moment that the human's learned of the ship you turians had," At this he gave a glance toward Teranus who pointedly looked away, "that everyone and everything that could get to this place, did. All of those ships out there, I wouldn't be surprised if

almost all of them came here on their own, without orders even. And if this is the kind of firepower they can bring just cause of what they heard, imagine what they could bring if they actually wanted to fight a war."

Valdn only gaped, his mouth opening and closing without words coming out. He looked towards Tevos in hope, only to see her with her head bowed, "They are right. We have never encountered a race such as these humans. And we are not ready for a war, not now. The turian armada has been decimated from what we can see, your people have lost one of your fortress worlds Teranus, for that you have my sympathies." Teranus gave a slight nod at her condolences. "Along with one of their largest shipyards and we have lost the krogan's fuel production facilities, facilities many of us rely on. Neither my people nor yours Valdn are suited for war, not one such as the turians or krogan are. And I feel that we would need every single last race and soldier we could get our hands on, if we wanted to wage a war."

As each of his fellow Councilors had presented their arguments, Valdn slumped to the floor. "Then, what do we do?"

Surprisingly, Wrex was the one to supply the answer, "We pray, and we wait." Unbeknownst to them, a similar discussion had occurred moments before.

**APUFMKII**

Moments earlier, onboard the UNSC Point of No Return, a ship that didn't officially exist, three of the most arguably powerful humans were gathered. The UNSC Point of No Return was both the pride and greatest secret of ONI. Produced in parts and assembled in deep space, it was the largest Prowler-type vessel in the UNSC's history. And had served as the wartime command and control center for ONI. Now though, it had become ONI's de facto flagship, unknown as it was.

Currently, the three sat within the Odin's Eye, the most secure room in UNSC space. The faraday cage design meaning no electronic signals could escape or enter the confernce room, and less than twenty officers, and now a single civilian, was aware of the room's existence. Between his two compatriots was Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, the de facto leader of the entire UNSC and all her forces. The losses incurred over the course of the Great War meant that each of surviving Flag officers, officers who possessed the ranks of Admiral or General, gained more and more power as those holding the ranks were lost. The authority that Lord Hood possessed had been heaped onto over the course of the war, with the deaths of the Ministers of Defense, the Navy, Air Force and the Army, many of which were lost during the Battle and near Fall of Reach. Being the only surviving original Fleet Admiral since before the War, with the exception of another, the other current Fleet Admirals had been promoted during the War.

To Hood's right was Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI, and despite officially that she was subordinate to the two men before her, she was arguably one of, if not the most dangerous person in the UNSC. The Admiral had the reputation of doing whatever she wanted, in the best interest of humanity. Whether it was sanctioned or not. Rumors had it that only one person had ever defied her and lived. Some rumors had it that it had been Lord Hood himself. Still, the only reason she was here was because of the fact that she was in charge of ONI, which in and of itself meant a great many things. Such as having the pull to force the conference to be held on her terms.

And lastly was the only civilian to ever grace an ONI vessel outside of the shipyards, Premier Minister Alexi Kowalski, current head of the United Earth Government.* Circumstances all but demanded he be involved in this discussion, as the consequences of said conference could and probably would affect every human in UNSC/UEG space. And an era of relative peace had been shattered with blood and gunfire.

"So…" Alexi leaned forward slightly, placing his arms on the table. "Admirals, I assume there has been news since the events at Shanxi?" The alien invasion and later nuclear bombardment of the colony had spread through the grapevine faster than slipspace travel. Outside of that however, nothing else had made its way to the civilian populace.

Paragonsky reined in her distaste at the Premier's presence. This was a military matter, not a civilian one. Yet the ramifications of what had happened several hours ago demanded it. With any preamble she began, "As you both know, the colony of Shanxi came under attack by an unknown force. Later it was found to have been that two hitherto unknown species when the Shanxi Liberation Fleet arrived at the colony. This lead to the discovery of a larger, partially unified alien civilization. They call themselves the Citadel Council. Further details are on the datapads before you." Only Alexi actually bothered to begin trying to read it, even as he listend to the ONI Director. Hood had already read the details beforehand. "We attempted to conduct negotiations, however…"

Alexi looked up from the datapad, "However?"

Paragonsky internally sighed, more so out of the fact that she knew what would coming next. "The negotiations soured almost immediately, if the databurst from the UNSC Era of Retaliation is correct. Not only had they refused to meet any our conditions, they made outright demands of us. And one of the species, claimed to possess the Everest." A dull clunk was heard as the datapad slipped from Alexi's fingers. Paragonsky ignored the Premier Minister, "As can be expected, our ambassador demanded its return only to be denied. The fool then informed everyone he could. Once the information had leaked out, he had ordered the kidnapping of the Citadel Council's leading figures. However, that is the least of our concerns."

Lord Hood began to speak, "I've since and continue to receive reports of UNSC and CDF vessels abandoning their posts and heading towards what I can only assume is the supposed location of the Everest. Apparently the ambassador had also loaded the stellar coordinates when he ordered all ships to move in on its location. Along with a great of civilian and private contractor ships heading in the same direction. But there's something else." For a moment, he looked far older than his already impressive almost seventy years. "We've also recieved a confirmed report of a NOVA-class nuclear weapon detonation on one of these, 'turian's' worlds. It has since been made into an asteroid field."

"Before this goes any further," Paragonsky interrupted, "Let me be clear that this was in no way sanctioned or authorized by me or anyone in our department. We-"

"Are you people insane!" Alexi had finally lost control of his anger. "We just managed to finally get to a level of relative peace humanity hasn't had since before the First Insurrection! And now you go and piss off another alien conglomerate?!" He directed his ire towards the ONI Director, "And don't give me this 'unauthorized' bullcrap! I know how your department operates, everyone does. We're still in the shit from your fiacos with the New Covenant, Thel refuses to even speak with me after one of your agents blew up their shipyards! Hell we'll be lucky if the Great War doesn't even happen again. For the love of-"

"Premier Alexi," Lord Hood had not raised his voice in the slightest, but still immediately silenced the UEG head, "I remind you that you are only here as a matter of courtesy. I suggest you cease throwing this temper tantrum or you will forcibly removed from this conference." It was no idle threat. Despite Alexi's official position as the chosen, not elected, head of the UEG, in practice, he held no real power. The Parliamentary positions handled most of the administration, deliberations and conferences between their representative peoples and nations. On paper, the Premier Minister possessed the executive power for when it came to bills, treaties and actions that would affect humanity as a whole. In reality, ever since the Great War had begun, much of the position's power had shifted over to the UNSC, to cut out the red tape as it were.

It had several decades since the Great War, and UEG had regained much of its former power, but with the constant threat from the Heretics, whatever remained of the human Insurrection, and of course the New Covenant, the UNSC/UEG was still on a partial warfooting. It had only been recently that things had managed to begun to calm politician simply nodded and sat back down. The matter settled, the ONI Director turned her attention back to Lord Hood, "In any event, the Premier is partially correct. Is our Navy in any condition for another war?"

Hood sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Quit frankly, no, we're not. We've managed to recover some since the end of the Great War, the Second Insurrection, and the Heretic Wars, but our fleets are still a shadow of what they once were. Even with everything we've gained since then, it'll be years, if not decades before we're back up to full strength. And I've seen your intel reports Margaret, we may out gun them, but they outnumber us. And they're not even ready for a fight by any means."

"There is also the matter of the economy." Alexi added. "We've gained a boost since the Wars' end, but the economy is incredibly fragile. It's basically a house of cards right now. Push it too far, and it might collapse. And I don't even know if the civilian populace would be willing to accept another war."

"They're not." Margaret interjected, when the other two turned towards her, she elaborated. "I've been keeping an eye on the civilians, making sure there won't be a Third Insurrection. As of now, they're willing to accept what's need to get retribution for Shanxi, but that's it. Much of the older generation is now finally being relieved of the pressures of a total war economy, we may find some support there but not much. The younger generation, those who were born at the very least after the Great War, are completely against any form of major conflict. We push too hard, and we're going to have a civil war on our hands."

"I'm less concerned about that than I am about the New Covenant. We may have a peace with them, hell some of them outright worship us, 'the Children of the Gods', but I'm still worried if they ever decide to turn on us." Hood added. What he didn't mention was the new historical data that had been recently gathered from the Forerunner archives. Recently some details behind the war between First Ascension Humanity and the Forerunnners had been found. The war itself was common knowledge but the new information had instantly been tagged as Omega Red Clearence, Eyes only knowledge. Apparently, the war had been the Forerunner's attempt at exterminating humanity. The reasons behind it were still unknown. "Recent...events" here he pointedly glared at Parangosky, only to have her look back serenely. "have started to make the New Covenant more hostile towards us. And if were to appear weak…" He let the sentence hang in the air, the implications clear to the three of them.

Alexi leaned back into his chair, pinching his eyes again. "Then it seems, our course of action is apparent." Seeing he had drawn their attention, he continued. "We can't afford a war, lest it evolves into something far more catastrophic where we may be, according to both of you, fighting on two or even three fronts."

"And what do you suggest Alexi?" Hood asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Peace. We have to try to it, if nothing else. And we must make it so that at best, it will appear desirable to allow trade and diplomatic relations and at worst they will be willing to accept it and not desire to break the accord anytime soon."

Both flag officers stared at the politician in surprise before looking towards the other. Neither had expected the Premier's proposal but silently conceded to each other that A man who in theory was their superior but in practice didn't have the authority to command them, was right. "Very well, we shall leave that you Premier Minister." Paragonsky stated, "In the meantime I will find out who was the one to deploy the NOVA. And Hood will deal with the renegade ships." With that the three stood and left the room. This meeting had never happened, and they were never here.

**APUFMKII**

Back in Palaven space, just as the UNSC had fallen back from the fortified bunker, where someone had assumed it was where they had been holding Cole. Long dormant systems had begun to awaken underneath the moon of Menae.

The bridge of the once, and some would argue still, mighty UNSC Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser, the Everest, the stations had come back to life. Old monitors and displays, projectors and the like began to power up once again. Long quiet speakers began to crackle once more, before a voice came through them crisp and clear as though they had been the day before. "UNSC 'Smart' AI MRN-01/138. Current status: unsealed and operating." As if on cue, the pedestal reserved for high-clearance communiques and AIs began to glow brighter as a figure appeared upon it. On a single knee, head bowed, with his fists knuckle first on the ground, garbed in unique armor. "UNSC AI, Morrison, designation 01/138 is online." As the now activated AI quickly acclimated to his newfound status, processing the entire database of the ship, reading, organizing, cataloguing, he was assailed as systems began delivering status updates in a constant barrage along with orders and new protocols established before his activation. A barrage that the newly awakened AI handled with ease. "Multiple unknown IFFs detected, but baseline codes identify them as UNSC and UEG, private vessels also detected along with...an unidentified code but sharing baseline UNSC IFF code." The holotank turned on, projecting the locations of the IFFs relative to the Everest. "Activating Disturbed Rest protocol. Initializing mass cryo-sleep awakening." In the cryobays located at several points in the Everest, cryogenic gases began to be flushed from hundreds of cryopods, the people within beginning to awaken. Morrison, satisfied with the progress of the Disturbed Rest protocol, set off a subroutine to monitor it, turning his attention the status of the Everest herself, and more importantly, her apparent imprisonment. A fact to be noticed, it has since established itself as a rule that the first hour of any AI's life, especially that of a 'Smart' AI, such as Morrison, is the point that is its most dangerous. For 'Smart' AIs, despite being able to use the full extent of its abilities the moment its unsealed and booted, subroutines such as morality, empathy and emotions imprinted from the brain that it was made from, are totally suppressed. Morrison began conducting scans of the area around the Everest, calculating stress points based on readings, vector, velocity and acceleration, and targeting solutions. Meaning, that the AI will have absolutely no qualms about carrying out its duty, regardless of the cost or morality.

In this case, ensuring the freedom and survival of the Everest and all those aboard her. Munitions were transported and fed by autoloaders. That meant anyone not aboard the Everest was not a factor. The Everest began to train her remaining guns on targets as designated by Morrison. A final check ensured that the cryobays were still secure even if the Everest were to enter vaccum. Back on the Bridge, Morrison uttered three words. "Take, take, take." And for the first time in decades, the Everest roared again.

A/N: created my own numbers for the Rachini war.

*Codex entry of the UEG will be coming soon.


End file.
